Beso
by Thunk
Summary: (Complete) Due to a necromancer’s spell, Kagome kisses Inuyasha. He realizes she’s not herself, but not before her advances trigger his true feelings for her. Problem is, she doesn’t remember. And Kouga is starting to look pretty good…
1. The Necromancer's Aphrodisiac

**Quick author's note: I don't write lemons. The scandalous premise is just my hook, so despite a good helping of heated smoochies (I just wanted to see them kiss already!), I tried to maintain the integrity of both the series and my writing. **

NOTE - This is a WRAP UP to a series that hasn't ended yet, rather than a story in itself. Rumiko Takahashi has done a wonderful job in telling her tale so far, and I have no desire to retell what she's already done. HENCE, here's a 7-chapter ending for ya. It's continued in Soledad and Venganza (which, unlike this fic, ARE actual self-contained stories...)

**Beso **

Chapter 1 The Necromancer's Aphrodisiac

* * *

_"Shit!"_

Snarling, Inuyasha sniffed at the air again as Sango and Miroku came to a panting halt behind him.

The monk leaned heavily on his staff as he tried to catch his breath, looking exhaustedly up at the hanyou through sweat-drenched bangs. "Inuyasha…did you…lose the trail?"

The dog boy spun on him. "There is no trail!" he barked, swiping angrily at a nearby tree, severing its trunk. The others winced as the lumber came crashing down through the shrubbery in a deep foresty boom. Inuyasha began to pace, flinging his arms furiously. "Kagome's scent disappears here!"

Sango watched him with unease. If they couldn't find the necromancer soon, she shuddered to think of what the foul wizard would do to Kagome. The demon exterminator was no fool. She'd seen the lusty look in the villain's yellowed eyes as he raced off with their friend slung over that animated carcass of a steed. The creature was deceptively fast. They had barely seen it coming before it showed up in Kaede's village, snatching Kagome before any of them could even react.

She held her breath, relieved that Inuyasha was still coherent - that the panic and rage at having Kagome abducted hadn't caused him to blitz out and go on a rampage.

"If that decrepit, seedy bastard even _touches_ her, I'll rip his balls off, and gouge his eyes!" the hanyou seethed.

Sango bit her lower lip, reconsidering her earlier thoughts. _At least not yet…_

"There's no barrier," Miroku stood upright, frowning. "And if the trail just disappears, then that means he must have transported somewhere-"

"Lecherous, conniving, lunatic dungspawn…" Inuyasha's invective interspersed Miroku's dialogue in short staccato bursts.

"But why did he take Kagome?" Sango asked.

Inuyasha flicked her a frenzied glance and continued to pace. Miroku bowed his head, and answered.

"The Shikon shard has tweaked the dark nature of the necromancer's magic, pushing the wizard beyond reason," Miroku said, recalling the moment Kagome sensed the approach of the Shikon shard, and the maniacal rantings of her kidnapper before he turned and fled...something about his destiny...and claiming a miko for his own. "He's drawn to the miko power in Kagome-"

"What miko power?" Inuyasha snapped, as though the insane wizard would be bound by _any_ rationale. "She hasn't developed even a fourth of it!"

Miroku paused, acknowledging Inuyasha's outburst with a nod. He knew it was just a cover for the crazed anxiety the hanyou felt. The axiety they _all_ felt. One of the worst places in the world to be was in the hands of a maddened wizard. "It's dormant, but there, my friend. And he wants it... He wants _her_."

Inuyasha grimaced, and Miroku mentally thwacked himself, wishing he hadn't said those last words out loud. They had painted a nasty visual in not only his mind, but apparently in his comrade's as well.

"I'll…kill him…" Trembling, the dog boy dropped to his knees and slammed his claws in the dirt, as though to sunder the very planet apart with his bare hands. His jaw muscles spasmed and he threw his silver mane back and roared at the eventide sky. _"KAGOME!"_

It hurt Sango's heart to see him like this. Inuyasha's feelings for Kagome were unprofessed, but obvious. Obvious to everyone but him. And it was at times like these when the girl was in danger, that the hanyou's love for her was so profoundly manifest. Pained, she looked away…

…and that's when she saw it. Hovering a few feet off the ground. It was feint, but there. "Look!" she pointed, drawing their attention immediately. "A distortion in the atmosphere. It wavered..."

Inuyasha and Miroku perked. The illusion had disappeared, so they waited breathlessly for a few seconds until the ripple flashed again…like an elusive mirage, warbling the view as subtly as steam. Acting on impulse, Inuyasha charged it only to go straight through. Swearing he spun around. "What the hell is it?"

"A portal," Miroku answered, peeling out one of his scrolls. The portal flicked again, and he tossed his sanctified paper at it, but it floated uselessly to the ground. The monk scowled his frustration. "But I can't hold its shape."

"We have to get through it. She's on the other side!" Sango cried in growing alarm. She neared it only to step back as the magical crackle of an unsheathing Tetsusaiga filled her ears.

Inuyasha stood there, on the ready with sword in hand. His shoulders rose and fell with each heated pant…his knees bent, ready to spring. Sango caught Miroku's eye knowingly, and could tell the monk was thinking the same thing. A sword vs. a portal? It wouldn't work. There was no way, but neither of them were about to tell the hysterical hanyou otherwise.

The illusion wavered into sight again, and Inuyasha dove at it, sword first…

And disappeared.

Sango blinked. In a knee-jerk reaction, Miroku tried to follow, but to no avail.

"Unbelievable," he breathed, staring at the displacement of air as though it were the largest puzzle in the world. "The sword…its magic yanked him through."

"So what do we do now?" she asked, hoping against hope that they could somehow follow.

Miroku dusted off and stood to his feet. His expression was solemn. "We wait, and pray that Inuyasha gets to Kagome before it's too late."

* * *

Inuyasha rolled when he hit, stopping in a crouch. In less than a half second, he took in his surroundings. Bamboo walls, boarded floor, spacious, dimly lit room.

And Kagome's scent.

He sprung forward, and raced through the necromancer's residence, following it. He peeled down long hallways and through a deadened courtyard, batting aside a handful of the wizard's acolytes - gray cloaked zombies as he passed. It only angered him further, to think the despicable, warped magic user would dare to bring someone as innocent and full of life as Kagome to such a disgusting place, littered with the walking undead.

_I'll gut him,_ he reaffirmed venomously. _Bash his brains, and break his wrists!_

He skidded around a corner, and saw his victim, one of his first thoughts being that the necromancer's attire was disturbing. The wrinkled, pale-skinned wizard was bare to the waist, looking for all the world like a roasted chicken. What few hairs left on his head were hanging in unorthodox scrags down his scrawny back, and his narrowed, beaked face was fixed in a snaggle-toothed grin on something in front of him. A smattering of his acolytes were shuffling lifelessly along the floor, puppets strung along by his commands.

"Where is she?" Inuyasha screamed, startling the necromancer. The old fossil spun around, his red-veined eyes saucer-wide, the words, 'oh shit' formed on his spittled lips. He gulped, a nervous glance flicking at the end of the room. Inuyasha instinctively followed his gaze, and choked.

Curled up on an assortment of pillowy cushions was Kagome, swaddled in silken, opalescent material that left her more naked than covered. And she wasn't moving. The visual elicited several reactions in him, not the least of which was the realization that the necromancer wasn't in the custom of walking around without his robes. He'd been in the process of getting undressed.

_Oh, HELL no..._

A growl crescendoed deep in Inuyasha's throat, and his vision turned crimson. He would have ranted his usual mantra right before he killed the guy. But the thought of what the decrepit old pervert had planned to do to _his_ Kagome pushed the hanyou beyond coherence. He exploded in a blind fury, the sounds of his own blood thirsty screams filling his ears.

The next time he saw straight, the Shikon shard was in his hand and the necromancer was dead - splattered in bloody clumps along the wall, having fallen victim to an unforgiving Tetsusaiga. And with his death, the animated corpses had fallen to the floor in great heaps of dust.

Inuyasha's entire body was oscillating, and it took several seconds for him to come back to his senses. But when he did, he went immediately to Kagome's side.

He knelt on the cushions next to her and scooped her limp form up in his arms. Her bare skin was slightly fevered, and her head lolled against his bicep. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her lips half parted as though to say something, but her long-lashed eyes were undeniably closed.

He shook her. "Kagome!"

She moaned softly, and he sighed relief. Consciousness wasn't that far away. He scanned her form for any wounds, and felt himself break out into a sweat as he did so.

Her hair had been wrapped up with a decorative clip atop her scalp, with several loose raven wisps dancing about her neck and face. Her attire wasn't much - a couple straps of shimmering, translucent material wrapped around the curves of her body. Small delicate anklets hung in a 'V' atop her feet, and a glittering, jeweled necklace hung low against her chest.

_Agh... Too low. _He bit his lower lip and looked away, shifting one arm to remove his shirt and covered her in it. The whole ensemble made him - amongst other things - want to commit suicide just so he could go to hell and slaughter the necromancer a second time over.

_Twisted, old, corrupt-_

She moaned again, and he looked up to see that her heavy-lidded eyes had fluttered open. It wasn't much, but her shadowy, irises were locked on his face, her brow creased in…_something_. He assumed it was recognition.

"Kagome," he circled his arms around her again, staring intently into her doll-like visage. "Did he-"

She brought a hand up to his face.

"…hurt you? Are you-"

And curled it gently around the back of his head.

"…you okay? Did h-he…" he speech slurred as her nails lightly scratched the nape of his neck, leaving burning trails of sensation that he felt all the way to his toes. "…t-touch you…?"

With an uncharacterically eager smirk, she pulled his face down and closed her mouth on his. His eyes flung wide and he squeaked surprise, but the sound was swallowed by the warmth and the wetness of her lips.

_Kagome?_ His blood raced, and his heart thumped wildly in his ears as every fiber of his being seemed to catch on fire. He nearly choked, being the recipient of so much of her affection, because, knowing Kagome, it could only mean that…that…

_You love me…_ The notion made his eyes sting. _Oh, Kagome…_ Before he realized it, he was kissing her back. She cupped his face with her other hand, moving against him as much as she was capable in his tight embrace. Spontaneous though it was, Inuyasha thought he'd never felt so alive.

Everything aligned in him. Everything. His soul-hunger, his heart, his mind…his desire… All testifying that holding her, kissing her, being with her…was indisputably right. That Kagome was right. For him. He'd been a fool not to see it sooner, and after all he'd put her through with Kikyo…

_Agh, I've been such an ass…_

He wanted to apologize, and leaned back enough to free his lips. "Kagome," he muffled against her mouth. "I'm sorry-"

She made a small noise of protest, and kissed him again, pulling him back on the cushions atop her in a tangling of limbs. It was unexpectedly aggressive…forward… And somewhere inside of him, a subliminal alarm went off. He felt the tickle of her pulsing fingertips on the bare skin of his back as she tried to remove his shirt. The alarm sounded again, suggesting, insinuating, _demanding_ that Kagome...would never be so bold. With a muttered curse, and great reluctance, he lifted himself off her, and stared hard at her passioned face.

"Say my name, Kagome," his demanded in a strangled tone.

She blinked lazily, and arched against him, trying to tug him back down. A rising panic surged in him and he wanted to scream.

_Dammit, Kagome, please tell me you mean all this…_ "Say my name!"

In response, she purred and caught his lower lip gently between her teeth, running her tongue across it. Inuyasha involuntarily shuddered before he broke away and moved his head to the side, burying his face against her ivory shoulder as he tried to get his bearings. The hanyou wasn't one to whimper, but in this moment he came damn close. "The bastard drugged you," he panted against the soft curve of her chest, trying to retract all those sentiments he'd admitted to himself earlier. "You don't want me. You just want..." she bumped against him, and he gasped. "_...that_."

With a frustrated growl, Inuyasha forced himself to roll off. He averted his eyes, trying to calm his body down. Then, using his peripheral vision, he methodically tied the arm sleeves of his shirt around her in a knot. Her pretty features creased in a perplexed frown, and she began to struggle.

Coupled with an acute frustration, a vortex of disappointment welled up inside him. He didn't care to identify why, and shifting gears, he flung Kagome's protesting form over his shoulder and made for the portal. His teeth were clenched, and his eyes nearly closed.

"Dammit, Kagome," he hissed, disgusted with how quickly he'd taken advantage of her in that state. He'd been a fool to assume she'd felt so strongly for him to begin with. "I thought it was you. I thought you meant it."

Inuyasha didn't voice the next conclusion of his self-analysis - the one that started and ended with the fact that he _wanted_ her to mean it. That this little encounter made him realize that she meant more to him now than Kikyo _ever_ did.

He instinctively tried to deny it, but the truth of the declaration clung to that void in his soul like a tenacious weed. He couldn't ignore it anymore. Kagome had his heart. Kagome made him whole.

"GAH!" he took out half the doorframe as he passed through one of the rooms. He thought she loved him back, but it was the necromancer's aphrodisiac that had kissed him. Not her.

She squirmed in his grasp, and he tried in vain to ignore how warm her hips were against his shoulder, or how smooth the back of her knees were against his forearm. He bit the inside of his cheek until it bled.

He had to get them back. Fast. Get her to Kaede to undo the spell, somehow. So he trudged on, struggling with the torrent of emotions that raged in his awareness like a tempest, wondering in vain about his future with Kagome, and pondering pointlessly on their past.

He was so confused, he could hardly see straight. Would she remember? If she didn't, should he tell her what happened? Would she hate him for kissing her back?

The last question made him grimace. He couldn't bear it if she shut him out. Especially not after he realized how much she meant to him. Perhaps for now, he would just wait it out and see what happened.

_Right,_ he thought, feeling none-too-confident about the decision. _Wait it out..._

* * *

Kouga craned his neck as he sped onward, noticing the giant white cat of Kagome's comrades. Whatever had snatched the girl up had sped by his boundaries, leaving a trail of her scent blazing through his domain like a string of fire. He could have been noseless and sightless and still been able to follow it.

His anxiety spurred him onward, declaring to heaven and hell and all in between that his woman had better be alright.

The cat must have been scouting separately, because it descended up ahead. He whirled on, coming to an abrupt halt when he saw the feline touch down by the monk and the exterminator. They rose to their feet when he burst into the clearing, wide-eyed.

"Kouga…" the woman said.

"Where is Kagome?" he blurted out, noticing as he did so that the hanyou had also been there. _That_ was a stench he'd never forget. "Where did that cur carry her off to?"

"A necromancer abducted her," the monk began, "and Inuyasha went after them. It was through a portal that-"

The human stopped abruptly as a rusty sword suddenly materialized in the air by his shoulder. Kouga blinked. The familiar weapon seemed to drag that loathsome hanyou out of thin air, and he landed solidly on the ground.

With the wolf prince's woman slumped heavily over his shoulder.

"Kagome!" Kouga took a step towards them only to nearly impale his throat on the tip of Tetsusaiga.

"Touch her, and die," Inuyasha said calmly. Too calmly. The hanyou's golden eyes were narrowed to slits, but aside from that, there was no snarl, no twitching jaw muscles, no offensive insults… Just four words. And they carried more foreboding than any ranting or mayhem combined.

Kouga's sixth sense enflamed, whispering danger. He swallowed his pride and stepped back, not taking his gaze off of his girl. Kagome moved sluggishly, her face hidden by the loose strands of black hair. Seeing her so weakened almost caused Kouga to ignore his intuition and charge the crazed hanyou regardless. "What did you do to her, you filthy mut?"

Inuyasha's lip twitched, and something pained crossed his face right then. He looked away and marched up to the white firecat, draping Kagome across it's back. She moaned in response, kicking at the air groggily.

Inuyasha turned and faced the exterminator. "Sango."

Sango stepped towards him, her brows raised with concern.

"Take Kagome-"

"She's under a spell, isn't she," the monk interrupted as he raised a hand to lift the strands away from Kagome's face. To Kouga's surprise, Inuyasha collared him back. Hard. "Stay away from her, Miroku!" he hissed. "No male is to come near her until Kaede can counter the spell, understand?"

The monk's eyes widened dramatically, his mouth making a small 'O' as he caught on to whatever it was Inuyasha wasn't saying. "Did you reach her in time, Inuyasha?"

Kouga watched as the hanyou dropped his gaze, obviously troubled. He nodded his head once. Then the monk went up to him and draped an arm across his shoulder, his eyes crinkling in projected contemplation. "Do you think you could go back and get me the scroll for that spell, my friend?"

The look that Inuyasha gave him right then sent a chill down Kouga's spine, and he wasn't even the recipient. The monk backed away immediately, his eyes disappearing in his smile. "Hai. Just kidding, Inuyasha. Just kidding," he said, waving his hands placatingly between them.

The exterminator neutralized the situation quickly by hopping on the firecat behind Kagome. She nodded firmly at the hanyou. "She'll be fine, Inuyasha. I'll keep her isolated until she's back to herself."

Kouga studied them, and it seemed suspicious to him that the dog boy was avoiding eye contact with his friends. Whatever spell had plagued Kagome had been a bad one. Something severe had happened. He looked again at her slumped form to assess any visual damage, but there was none.

The exterminator clicked her tongue. "Up, Kirara!"

The firecat levitated and shot off through the branches, and Kouga turned and pegged his rival with a glare. "What did you do to her, dog turd?"

Inuyasha locked stares with him, his lip twitching up in a nasty snarl. "Go home, you mangy whelp. It's none of your concern."

"What concerns Kagome concerns me!" Kouga retorted. "You're too quick to forget that she's mine!"

Inuyasha began to tremble. "Why..._you_..."

"Gentlemen," the monk interrupted, ever the politician. They both snapped their heads in his direction. "Wouldn't it be wise to return to the village with them? After all, Kagome still needs protection."

Kouga bit off the latest list of invective he had prepared for his rival. The human was right. And Kagome's well-being was at the forefront of his mind.

Wasting no more time with the lesser creatures, the wolf prince whizzed out of there, smirking to himself as Inuyasha screamed his name in frustration, inevitably left behind.

* * *


	2. Tell me...

A/N: 'BESO' means 'kiss' in Spanish. fyi.

**Chapter 2 **

* * *

It was nearly dawn.

The cool stillness of the night had started to give way to the early morning rustling that whispered the coming of the sun. And Inuyasha sat in the exact same spot that he'd been in since they arrived - with his back turned to the hut that housed Kagome, distanced enough not to hear her sighs or moans, but close enough to keep an eye on that accursed wolf prince, who insisted on staying.

The thought of his rival made rage course through his veins. Pompous, self-important prick always acting like he was entitled to Kagome's affections… And to show up _now_, of all times, when Inuyasha's feelings towards her were finally clear, making things so much more difficult. When he'd seen Kouga hovering there, outside Kagome's tent, he nearly went berserk in a territorial frenzy.

But Kaede had intervened, holding Kagome's well-being over their heads. She scolded them both scathingly, saying that now wasn't the time for petty bickering.

_Hn. Bickering,_ he grumbled inwardly. As though he'd just planned on insulting Kouga to death. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. The only real reason he hadn't killed the bloody youkai yet was because Kagome would throw a fit.

He winced at her name. _Kagome…_ For the hundredth time since it happened, he was bombarded with another crystal clear recollection of what had transpired between them, complete with smell, taste, feel… On cue, he dug his claw into the flesh of his side, right next to a dozen other holes he'd given himself so far this night, until the visuals stopped.

He didn't have any more right to remember them than Kouga had to stake a claim to Kagome's heart. It's not like she'd given either of them permission. He shook his head and sighed heavily, wishing for the days when his life was less complicated.

"Inuyasha."

He jumped and turned to see Miroku standing over his hunched form. "Idiot!" he barked on reflex. Whether it was at the monk for sneaking up on him or at himself for not detecting his friend's approach, he was unsure. Either way, it was appropriate.

Miroku's dark robe crumpled as he plunked down beside the hanyou, picking absently at the grass. Inuyasha watched him through narrowed eyes. The monk's expression would have seemed blank to anyone else, but Inuyasha had spent enough time with him to know when he was trying to mask his concern.

Several awkward seconds passed, until the hanyou couldn't take it anymore. "Keh! Wipe that pitiful expression off your face, Miroku. Save it for-"

"She came on to you, didn't she?"

Shocked silence.

Miroku finally lifted his gaze, and stared at him knowingly - disturbingly perceptive for such a deceptively innocent face. It occurred to Inuyasha that the monk had every awareness of hitting a sore point dead on. Damn him. This whole 'friend' thing was more trouble than it was worth, sometimes.

Inuyasha opened his mouth to deny it. It's not like it was any of the monk's business. But instead of his customary rebuttal, he found himself sighing defeat. Wordlessly, he curled further into himself.

A solid hand clasped his shoulder. "How far did she get before you knew…?"

How could he answer that? Far enough to make him realize that she meant more to him than breath? Or not so far in that she still had her virtue? He chose the second one, and phrased it with his usual bite.

"Not as far as _you_ would have let her get, lech."

Inoculated to such insults - after all, they were true - Miroku's expression didn't waver. He hadn't even flinched. Then Inuyasha perked in alarm. His hand snaked out and grabbed a fistful of Miroku's robes. "Not a word, understand? Tell no one."

His eyes widened marginally. "You mean you're not going to tell her?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Didn't say what?" Kouga's irritating voice came from behind them. Inuyasha spun around to catch the wolf prince glaring at him suspiciously. "You're hiding something, hanyou," he seethed, "and I swear by my ancestors that if you so much as harmed-"

Tetsusaiga was unsheathed and swinging before Inuyasha thought to restrain himself. Kouga hissed and jumped back.

"KAZE NO KI-"

"Inuyashaaaa!"

He froze, mid-swing. _Kagome?_

"SIT!"

"Gah!" His charmed necklace yanked him down ruthlessly, slamming his face unceremoniously in the dirt. Grunting, he winked an eye open at the hut. She was still inside, but must have heard him. Damn girl. Always interfering.

Then he opened both eyes and sat up. Kaede must have countered the spell if she was able to bark out that stupid command. Then Shippo came bouncing out of the hut, his tail wagging behind him. He looked exhilarated. "Miroku! Kaede wants you in here!" he chimed cheerily.

Miroku stood eagerly. "Me?"

Earlier offenses forgotten, both Inuyasha and Kouga frowned. "HIM?"

"Hai!"

Inuyasha's lip curled in a nasty snarl as he watched the horny monk saunter over to the hut. He growled, the sound unexpectedly hitting his ears in stereo. Disoriented, he looked over to Kouga who was projecting the same noise.

They both jogged over to the perimeter of the hut to listen intently to what was transpiring inside. Miroku's melodious voice leaked through the bamboo walls.

"Kagome-sama, will you have my child?"

A pause. "Eh?"

Another pause, followed by the sound of shifting material.

A scream.

"Ah, wait! No! No! Kagome! They told me to-AYIEE!"

SMACK!

Miroku stumbled out, his brow drawn in acute aggravation. The entire left side of his face was reddened, and swelling rapidly. With a disgruntled sigh, he mumbled, "You can go in now. She's back to normal."

* * *

Kagome huffed as she watched the monk walk out. "Why did he have to fondle me?" 

The old woman patted her shoulder consolingly. "We had to make sure the spell was broken, dear."

"What spell?" she asked in growing alarm, noticing that she was attired in little more than Inuyasha's red armor. "And where are my clothes?"

Sango leaned forward, her brows drawn in the center. Still sternly pretty, she looked haggard, as though she'd been awake all night. "You don't remember, Kagome?"

"Remember what?"

"KAGOME!"

"KAGOME!"

She jumped as a very animated Kouga broke into the room, followed by an equally livened Inuyasha. Kouga fell at her side in an instant, cradling her hand in both of his. The sound of Inuyasha's gritting teeth filled the room, and the hanyou looked for a moment like he was about to explode. Then, as though reminding himself why he was there, his slitted gaze shifted back to Kagome, and widened with palpable concern.

She shied away from Kouga's attention, and eyed them all squarely. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Ah. She doesn't remember," Kaede said quietly. "Perhaps it is for the best."

"You were abducted!" Shippo cried, materializing out of nowhere and latching on to her shirt. "An evil necromancer took you away to make you his wife!"

Kagome stared down at his amber head, and petted it absently. _Abducted?_ She frowned in consternation, trying to recall… Then she covered her mouth with a worried hand as she remembered. A gnarly wretch of a wizard, who smelled of decay and potions had grabbed her. She shuddered as the memory of his maniacal cackle filled her ears.

"But fortunately, Inuyasha was able to penetrate the wizard's portal, and rescue you," Sango explained. "And Kaede was able to break the spell he cast on you."

_The spell?_ Her last memory was a hazy one, of a stale room, and a foggy substance. Kagome looked up in question at Inuyasha, and froze. The look on his face stole her breath. So conflicted, pained… So _not_ him. "What is it, Inuyasha?"

He startled as though she'd caught him torturing a cat, and broke the eye contact. "Feh. Nothing."

Kouga's grip on her hand tightened abruptly as his anger flared. He turned and fumed at the hanyou. "Nothing, indeed. How could you let her get carried away to begin with?"

Inuyasha's face snapped up and opened in appall, his jaw trembling with a hundred angry retorts that frothed at his tongue.

In his muted fury, Sango spoke up. "The necromancer was incredibly fast, Kouga. We did everything we could-"

"Hn. I could have caught him," Kouga said - something that was probably true. Kouga was nothing, if not fast. Kagome watched nervously as Inuyasha's face turned five shades of red.

"ASS! That's only because you have those cheats imbedded in your legs!" he yelled. "Your true strength is laughable without the Shikon shards!"

"Then I'll remove them right now and we'll settle this once and for-"

Kagome yanked on Kouga's hand, tugging him back away from Inuyasha. It broke the tension as he looked back at her, his elven features softening.

"Enough," she reprimanded.

Inuyasha seethed for a couple more seconds, nonplussed at Kouga's close proximity to her, and then spun his back to them and stormed out. She sighed and shook her head.

"Forget about him," Kouga said abruptly, his slanted cerulean eyes intense…sincere. "Come back with me, Kagome. I can protect you."

His gaze was so unwavering, she found herself struggling to say 'no'. "But…but we have to find the Shikon shards, Kouga-kun."

He pursed his lips, his eyes shimmering with admiration. He looked like he wanted to embrace her, and she tensed in anticipation, but instead he bowed his head respectfully, his obsidian tresses flopping over his shoulder and into her lap.

"So brave and so beautiful," he whispered.

Kagome felt her cheeks heat up. He was always so forward with her. She still couldn't figure out exactly what she'd done to make him so enamored.

"Very well."

She gasped as he lifted her hand to his face and kissed the underside of her wrist. It made her entire arm tingle. A confident smile curled his lips, and he stood. "I'm relieved you are well. I must return to my people for now." He turned to walk out and paused in the doorway. "Be safe, Kagome."

Wide-eyed and bashful in the wake of his advances, all she could do was nod. With a final wink, he took off, the sound of his departure whirring in the hut like a dying sand devil.

"You know," Sango mused, her cheeks nearly as flushed as Kagome's. "He _is_ charming."

"And cute," Kaede added, and even Shippo swiveled his head in the old woman's direction. There was just something disturbing about the elderly commenting on the beauty of youth. "If that Inuyasha doesn't pull his head out of his ass, then it wouldn't hurt to consider the wolf prince's affections."

Kagome clenched her fists. Why did they all talk about her love life as though she had one? As though her prospects or lack thereof could possibly take precedent over finding the missing Shikon shards? She opened her mouth to retort when a derisive, 'Keh!' sounded through the walls of the hut. It was followed by the rapid patter of bare feet as they trailed off into the woods.

Inuyasha. He'd heard them.

Kagome rolled her eyes and smacked the heel of her palm to her forehead. That darn hanyou spent more time brooding over insignificant matters than any _girl_ she knew. She thought about chasing him down to put out yet another fire he wouldn't admit was blazing, but decided that she'd let him cool off first. Besdies, she suddenly realized how exhausted she was.

Knowing Inuyasha, she was sure the necromancer was now continuing his practice in hell. She felt safe. Setting Shippo on the floor, Kagome leaned back heavily on the sleeping pad.

Sango obligingly placed a blanket atop her, and she snuggled under it. She would sleep for now, and deal with Inuyasha later.

* * *

It was dusk when she finally found him, sitting at the base of _the_ tree. The one that had survived centuries, still standing in her own time…the one that he'd been sealed to for fifty years by Kikyo. 

The rust-colored sky cast a shadowy, orange haze over his slumped form, tingeing his white shirt copper, and reflecting off his silver mane in small prisms of amber light. He almost looked statuesque, surreal, like the time she'd first seen him impaled to that very trunk. For some reason it made her knees weak, and on her next step she stumbled.

He startled at the noise, his wide golden eyes fixing on her in alarm. He hadn't heard her approach, giving her the impression that more than just petty things were on the hanyou's mind.

"There you are, Inuyasha!" she said, shrugging off her unease, taking comfort in the pacifying items she brought with her - his heavy, red shirt and assorted goodies from home stashed away in her backpack. "I've been looking for you all afternoon."

No snide remark. No habitual scowl. But his brows raised marginally, as though..._distressed_, at her presence?

_How odd..._ "What's with the face?"

He blinked and averted his eyes, a dim remnant of his former self creasing his brow in projected aggravation. "Hn. What face?"

Perplexed, she strode up to him and stood at his feet. To her shock, he recoiled from her, curling his legs inward. The reaction didn't seem out of anger, so much as reflex. As though she were a poisonous cloud.

_Nani?_ After several moments of strained silence, she crouched down over him, bowing her head to lure his eyes upwards. He gasped at the sudden proximity and scooted back…or rather, he tried to but the tree was in his way. He was cornered. She saw a fleeting expression of anxiety...inner conflict cross his visage. His breathing sped up and she could see the heart palpitations in his chest through the open neckline of his shirt.

She blinked. _My word. He looks terrified..._

Then, with no more warning than a frenzied glint in his eye, he sprung to the left, and stood to his feet. "Gah! You're so invasive, Kagome!" He snarled as he spun his back to her, crossing his arms.

She gawked, and an edgy silence passed between them. Getting her bearings, she got on her feet. "What's going on, Inuyasha? You're acting as though you're allergic to me..."

He flinched but didn't turn around. "I'm not…You're imagining things. I was just meditating is all."

He was tense. Unbelievably tense, and she thought it wouldn't have surprised her any if he suddenly bolted. She brought out her backpack for reinforcements and deliberately crumpled the potato chip bag, waiting for his ears to twitch at the sound.

"Well, I brought you some things," she said disarmingly, hoping to calm him down so they could talk. "Your shirt and some of your favorite goodies..." she held them out, waiting for him to turn and snatch the items from her and inhale the chips in his usual three swallows.

He fidgeted, bounced on the balls of his heels, but refused to face her. "You can leave them."

"Leave them?" Oi, he was acting so strange! "Listen, Inuyasha, about Kouga-"

"I don't care about him."

_Yeah, right. _"I wasn't flirting with him," she explained, wondering as usual why Inuyasha always acted so jealous when his heart belonged to someone else. It didn't make sense. But she went through the usual routine of reminding him where her affections _didn't_ lie, anyways, as it usually made him relax. "And I don't have any intention of becoming his woman."

"I said I don't care about him."

Funny. She actually believed him this time. Then what was it? "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wro-"

Her patience waning, she yanked his arm and whirled him around. His eyes met her face briefly in surprise, and then he clenched them tightly as though afraid she'd turn him to stone.

"My word, Inuyasha. You can't even _look_ at me!"

His face scrunched and she could tell he was trying to prove her wrong, but he just ended up hanging his head until his thick bangs shadowed his downcast eyes. He moved to get away, but she twisted her fists in the neck of his shirt and pulled him back. This was getting absurd.

"Inuyasha!"

Tugging his bottom lip inbetween his teeth, he reluctantly met her eyes, his demeanor softening almost immediately. His brows were knotted in the center, his face flushed, and his eyes - those large, expressive eyes were shimmering…pained.

She suddenly understood why he didn't want her to see him. Whatever strength he relied on to keep up all those emotional barriers was depleted, and he couldn't hide his feelings from her. At all.

And Inuyasha looked more than just distressed. He looked _vulnerable_.

Her eyes stung, and she impulsively embraced him, burying her face in his chest. She heard his quick intake of breath, and waited for the absolute rigidity of his body to soften like it usually did when she hugged him. "I've never seen you like this," she whispered, her next words coming out in a tumble. "What happened? You were fine when I returned from my time, and you say it has nothing to do with Kouga, so what transpired between…" She stopped and blinked hugely as the knowledge hit her. "The necromancer!"

He flinched. She clutched at his shirt, and looked up in his creased face. "He did something, didn't he?" she asked, her pitch rising. "Something bad."

He didn't deny it, and the three seconds it took him to respond was all the confirmation she needed. The tears seemed to materialize out of nowhere and roll down her cheeks in warm, wet lines. She shook him.

"What did he do to me, Inuyasha?" she hissed, abruptly bombarded with nasty visuals of that stinking crazed wizard and her unconscious body. "What did he do to me that was so awful, you can't even stomach my presence, anymore?"

_That_ broke him. She suddenly found herself wrapped up in his half demon arms, nearly crushed within his fierce embrace.

"Kagome-"

A quick sob escaped her lips and she closed her eyes. "He...he _violated_ me, didn't he..."

"Idiot," he hissed in her hair. His voice wavered, choked with emotion. "You should know I wouldn't have let him lay a finger on you…"

She sniffed. "Then what...?"

Goosebumps unexpectedly raised on her arms as he turned his face inward. She felt the heat of his next words on her ear. "It was the spell," he breathed. "You..._we_..."

He inhaled deeply, and she realized that he was sniffing her hair. And with the response it elicited in her body, she thought he could sniff her hair for the rest of the day and she wouldn't particularly mind. It was a confusing, contradicting sensation to the panic and confusion she was feeling. "What are you trying to say?"

"When I look at you, I..._remember_..." He took a deep breath and tried again. "I...I want to..." With a quick, frustrated growl, he disentangled one of his arms and combed his fingers through her thick, raven hair, tilting her tear-streaked face upwards.

"_Kagome_," he breathed desperately, his gaze trailing back and forth between her lips and her eyes. "What do you feel for me?"

It caught her so off guard, she just blinked mutely, winded by his intensity. It was a good thing his other arm was bracketed around the small of her back, because his gaze seemed to suck the strength right out of her legs.

She was abruptly aware of every part of her that was touching him...every heated fold of cloth between them, every indentation in her skin from where he was gripping her... And she knew, without needing it spelled out that he wanted more than just the generic I-care-for-you answer.

Inuyasha wanted her to put her whole heart out on the table.

Kagome found herself tongue-tied. It was difficult to concentrate on much of anything when his mouth was just a couple inches from her own. It gave her the impression that if she answered the question just right, he'd close the distance between them and kiss her.

"In…Inuyasha," she whispered, inebriated with his warmth, his breath, his gaze, his touch…

"I…"


	3. Too late

**Chapter 3 **

* * *

_I love you._

She felt it. Knew it. More than a crush. More than friendship. Those three words, as they echoed in her head suddenly seemed to fit precisely the fierce devotion…the blind courage he inspired in her. And oi… That _one_ sensation she was too modest to identify… The one that made her wish she could stop time just so she could stay in his arms forever.

He tilted his head, ever so slightly, those golden , feverish eyes sending more adrenaline through her body right then than her first encounter with a youkai. Her heart slammed the breath from her lungs while his foresty, masculine scent clouded her reason. Having little coherence to do much else, she opened her mouth to utter her confession.

"Inuyasha... I-"

And shrieked.

A biting cold _something_ bumped into the backs of her calves, and she kicked at the ground reflexively. Inuyasha hissed and dragged her back with him, his now panicked eyes locked on the eel-like acolytes of the one person who not only had the power to ruin the moment, but distract Inuyasha completely from its memory.

_Kikyo…_

The luminescent, eerie soul snatchers writhed back and forth in the air about them like ghosts of ill omen, fostering a profound despair in Kagome. Truth be told, she would have rather been interrupted by Naraku himself.

Inuyasha ground his teeth, his jaw muscles twitching. All his attention was redirected, as usual, to any reminder of the miko. Kagome was already discarded. Forgotten. And it hurt just as much this time around as it had the first.

"_Shit!_" he swore, his face troubled. "Why are they here?"

In response, they swirled towards the edge of the clearing, and even Kagome knew they wanted him to follow. He released her without explanation or apology and took a step towards them.

"Don't go, Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out, swallowing the lump in her throat and clutching at his arm. He tensed, and turned back to her - the look on his face determined. He gently pried her fingers from his wrist.

"I have to."

"Then take me with you," she said desperately, knowing there was only one thing worse than seeing them together, and that was letting Kikyo drag Inuyasha to hell without a fight.

He pursed his lips in frustration. "I don't-"

"You get stupid around her, idiot!" She held her breath, steeling her resolve. At the forefront of her mind was Inuyasha's safety. It always had been.

Inuyasha clicked his tongue, and glanced anxiously back at the soul snatchers. His next words were solemn…quiet. "This is something I have to do on my own, Kagome."

Her stomach was already tying itself in knots. Panic surged, and she clenched her fists at her sides. "I won't let her kill you!" she screamed, her eyes stinging with tears. "I won't!"

The force of her words made him flinch. He turned back to her, a number of emotions seeming to battle for control of his face. His mouth open and closed three times until the carefully-worded sentence finally came tumbling off his tongue. "I'm not going there to die."

"Of course not!" she shouted. "Because I'M going with you!"

He scowled, a hint of his customary anger flitting across his face. "The hell you are-"

"SIT!"

"…egh!" _FWOMP!_ He snarled and spat at the ground, winking up at her through one angry eye. "Dammit, girl-"

"SIT!"

"…gah!"

"SIT!"

"Umph!"

She stood her ground and waited for him to compose himself. When he got up, he was screaming. "KAGOME! YOU DO THAT AGAIN, AND I'LL-"

"I'm coming."

He swore and swiped at the air in a furious gesture, turning his back to her. "Keh! Fine! But don't go screaming for me to save your big-mouthed ass when you get yourself in trouble!"

As usual, she saw right through his empty threat, but it did little to alleviate the regret at having been interrupted …of losing a moment they _almost_ had. Taking a deep breath, and not feeling half as confident as she portrayed, Kagome stomped over and hopped on his back. He hooked his elbows behind her knees, wriggling his hands around the material of her pants.

Her red pants…

_Oh…no…_ Kagome stared down at her clothes as Inuyasha sprung off after the soul snatchers. Having lost her own school outfit to the foul necromancer, Kaede had provided her with the traditional garb of her village. Red bottoms, white top. The same clothing that Inuyasha had always associated with Kikyo.

_Please…please no…_ A brief flashback tainted her awareness of the look in Inuyasha's eyes as he embraced her not minutes ago, and the words he'd spoken…

_When I look at you, I…remember…_

She dug her fingers into his shirt and buried her face in his shoulder blade. He remembered _her_, from fifty years ago. Kagome cursed herself a fool for thinking otherwise. _It wasn't me he was seeing, _she told herself forcefully. _It was Kikyo. It's always been Kikyo... _

And she'd been so sure this time, too. So absolutely convinced that those passionate, glittering eyes were meant for 'Kagome', and not for the reincarnation of the woman Inuyasha once loved.

_Still_ loved.

It made it worse. So much worse. As Inuyasha bounded forward, Kagome found herself wondering how on earth she was able to still hold onto him when the most important organ of her body felt like it had stopped beating.

* * *

Kagome swallowed back the bile rising in her throat as the stench of stale blood and burnt flesh stung her nostrils. A dull crackling of bamboo walls and straw roofs filled her ears as the fire nipped at the few structural skeletons left in the wake of a holocaust, bleeding orange and red hazes against the black night. The pathway to Hell couldn't have been more unholy or foreboding, she decided as she shuddered and turned away. It didn't matter how many times she saw it. A slaughtered village always pushed her to the edge of insanity.

She clenched her eyes and tried to breathe through her mouth, as though that could possibly stop the deluge of horror that flooded her awareness at the injustice of so many butchered innocents. Their corpses littered the premises with wanton abandon, evidencing that whoever had done this wasn't partial.

They had killed men, women and children alike.

A solid, warm arm circled around her shoulder blades and pulled her into a protective embrace. "You shouldn't have to see this," Kouga said quietly…angrily, and for once, she let him hold her, taking small comfort in his presence. "That hanyou bastard caught the scent of human death before he arrived. He could have left you on the outskirts…"

As though reminded why she'd come, Kagome peeked open an eye and looked at Inuyasha's rigid form as he stood with his back to them. The rusty colors of the dying village reflected off his silver hair, and he stood tensely…anxiously, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Naturally, he wasn't throwing a fit at Kouga's presence. After all, Kikyo was there.

The mysterious miko gazed out across the expanse of the village's remains before them. Her profile was out-lined with the flickering light of the dying embers, and her onyx hair was tinged blue by the moon. The woman made of clay, who sustained herself off the souls of the dead, turned to face them, expressionless and solemn, and Kagome found herself wondering again how Inuyasha could love such a hollow, morbid being.

She had summoned not only the hanyou, but Kouga as well, along with Miroku and Sango, who were staring out at the carnage with pained eyes. It was a woeful despairing setting, made even more so by the company.

"Naraku's children did this," she said quietly. Almost bitterly, and Kagome wondered if this had been Kikyo's place of residence before it was destroyed.

"I've summoned you," she continued and then, unexpectedly, her gaze lifted, and for one of the few times their paths had crossed, she acknowledged Kagome's presence with more than a mental shrug. Her eyes narrowed, and Kagome could have sworn she saw the miko's lip twitch. "Though _this_ girl has no place here."

They all turned and looked at her, including Inuyasha. His eyes flared when he noticed Kouga's arms around her, and a low, thrumming growl resounded in his throat and filled the distance between them. At his reflexive snarl, Kouga's grip tightened.

But that was the end of the exchange - because Kagome was pissed at the insulting acknowledgement. As though she didn't matter. And coupled with the maddening effect of standing at the edge of a massacred town, something snapped inside of her.

Kagome's vision darkened around the edges, focusing with a sniper's accuracy on the clay humanoid that had become the bane of her existence. The cause of her pain. The normally polite school girl felt a venomous, fed up rage ignite within her, burying her kinder disposition…

_Completely. _

She pushed away from Kouga and squared her shoulders, feeling the heat rise to her face. Kagome wasn't given to vulgarity often, but she couldn't stop the cutting words that trumpeted out of her mouth. They'd been held in for far too long.

"Self-serving miko _bitch_," she spat, ignoring the dropped jaws and saucer-eyed stares her insult drew from her comrades. Her irises shrunk to pinpricks in her ire, and Kagome continued as though possessed. "You not only tried to kill him - _twice_ - but you tried to damn his soul to Hell."

Kikyo's eyes widened marginally. Clearly, Kagome's retaliation was unexpected.

The girl went on, her words clipped but dangerously even, like a grim reaper dolling out death sentences. "You rob thousands of innocents of their salvation, and yet you saunter around doing service amongst the living, as though it could possibly compensate for eating their souls when they die," she seethted, her white-knuckled fists held firmly at her sides. "You're a bitter, despicable residue of the person you once were, filled with shadows and hate. And if you think for one second that I'm going to stand idly by while you take advantage of Inuyasha's inherent stupidity-"

Inuyasha's slack-jawed gape shifted into an offended frown.

"Then you're a fool."

A dark, edgy silence passed between them, and Kagome was dimly aware of a feint crackling around her form…an aura of energy that hissed and spat like a loose cable in the rain. And for a second…just a second, she felt powerful enough to take on the very legions of Hell.

Kikyo took a step back. As a matter of fact, they _all_ took a step back. It wasn't until she heard a feint _'Kagome-sama!'_ from Miroku, that the rampaging instincts ebbed out of her form.

But the bitterness… The _bitterness_ was still there, and she stared Kikyo down until the woman finally broke the tension between them by speaking.

"You toy with powers that you do not know how to use," the miko said, the only sign of her trepidation being a feint crinkle of her otherwise soulless eyes.

"And you ignore a conscience that you once had," Kagome countered lowly. Despite her eloquence, she was just beginning to realize that something had happened to her a second ago. Something dangerous. Unprecedented. It was unnerving, so she stepped out of the confrontation with a final snide remark before her courage left her. "Tell everyone why you summoned them, and be done with it. The sight of you makes me _sick_."

Inuyasha, Miroku, and Sango all blinked hugely, and Kagome found herself shrinking under their astonished scrutiny. She took a step back and felt Kouga's rough, callused hand on her upper arm. He squeezed once for reassurance…whether for himself or for Kagome, she wasn't so sure, and they all redirected their attention to the fuming miko.

A muscle in Kikyo's jaw jumped, and her teeth flashed in the moonlight. Kagome took slight pleasure in the fact that she'd gotten a reaction out of her. _Finally._ With a thin-lipped frown, Kikyo peeled her glare off the school girl, and eyed the others with a more characteristic solemnity.

"You each hold grudges against Naraku," she began in a louder timbre, trying to regain the dignity that Kagome had undermined. "He has gathered all the Shikon shards with the exception of those in the wolf prince's legs, and the ones in your possession, Inuyasha."

_They're in MY possession, you beast,_ Kagome thought heatedly as she gripped the crystal container around her neck. But she bit her tongue. The sooner the miko finished, the sooner they could leave.

Kikyo turned again to the village that had been massacred, and trembled slightly. "He'll come after you, next," she said. "Unless you go to him first, and complete the Shikon no Tama."

There was a series of grunts and shocked incredulity as her words sank in. It was Kouga who gave the unanimous sentiment voice. "You're wrong if you think I'm just going to hand him my shards," he said from behind Kagome, and she could feel his hand twitch against her arm.

Kikyo turned around and locked stares with him, her willowy voice quiet, but penetrating. "The Shikon no Tama has the ability to swallow Naraku whole," she said, the barest hint of passion in her words. "But I can't manipulate it unless I am unmolested by his attacks."

Inuyasha was quiet. Unbearably quiet. Kikyo always had this effect on him. Hence, it was the demon exterminator who spoke.

"You're asking us for a distraction. You're asking us to give up the shards and then fight without them so you can work your magics and enslave Naraku."

"Yes."

They were all silent, and it was obvious that everyone was wondering whether or not Kikyo could be trusted. She certainly had never given any of them cause to rely on her. And by her distant expression, she wasn't about to start now.

"I know where Naraku is," she said flatly, her cold, blank face profiled crimson by the dying embers. "But he won't be there for long. I'll summon you again on the morrow."

"Tell us now!" Inuyasha finally piped up, his claws curling into fists. "I need no more preparation to rip his throat out!"

Kouga let go of Kagome and took a step forward. "You can't keep such valuable information from us, witch!"

Kikyo acknowledged them by turning completely and walking away. "On the morrow," she called lightly over her shoulder, her form being folded in the shadows of the trees.

"Kikyo, wait!" Inuyasha cried desperately, his hand outstretched. The miko hesitated, and he ran over to her, putting enough distance between them and Kagome that she couldn't hear their words.

_There he goes…_ Kagome thought sadly as she saw how close they stood. Inuyasha's head bowed slightly, the low hum of his hushed words sounding through the grass. The moonlight seemed to reflect in Kikyo's eyes as she looked up at him with more emotion than before.

_He wants to be with her…to hold her_… Kagome tried to blink back the sting in her eyes. It hurt. It _always_ hurt seeing them together. Especially after having the carrot of his affections dangled in her face just an hour earlier, only to have it snatched away and tossed back at Kikyo.

Sango and Miroku walked over and engaged in a conversation with Kouga. Kagome was feintly aware of what they were saying, but her attention was latched on the eyesore of her soul, and wished for all the world right then, that Kikyo had never been resurrected. As it were, she didn't know how much longer she could go on like this, wanting Inuyasha when he was in love with someone else.

* * *

"Kikyo…"

She faced him, and reluctantly looked up.

Inuyasha suddenly found himself at a loss for words. After seeing the incredible surge of power in Kagome - _where had it come from?_ - and hearing her enraged words, Inuyasha couldn't deny that he'd been affected too. And for the first time since she'd returned, he had to search Kikyo's face to find any remnant of the woman he once knew, when before, the _memory_, was all he could see.

Her eyes shimmered, and her mouth twitched, a bare flicker of her former self. But that was all. Not knowing how else to start, he opened with the communal sentiment among them. "Why won't you tell us where Naraku is?"

"I have my reasons."

"Will you…?" he faltered, and looked down at his feet. "Will you betray us, Kikyo?" Egads, would he have doubted her before?

She raised her frigid fingers to his face, and it took him great effort to not flinch at her touch. When he lifted his eyes, she rubbed his cheekbone softly with her thumb, and shook her head 'no'. It made him regret doubting her almost immediately.

Then he caught himself. Kagome was right. Because of their history, Inuyasha was proned to believe in Kikyo's better nature. He wanted to believe she still had it.

She frowned slightly, her eyes crinkling in scrutiny. "You have more to say, Inuyasha."

That voice… So void of warmth. So serious…so sad. He looked down at his feet again, and started to fidget with the Tetsusaiga's sheath. "You don't deserve Hell, Kikyo, and I'll do everything I can to redeem your soul from its depths… But…" he paused to swallow past the lump in his throat. Fate had been so unfair to their relationship back then. So cruelly unfair.

Kikyo dropped her hand from his face, and Inuyasha felt a wall of cold air rise between them. "Say it."

He opened his mouth. He had to tell her. Now. "I want you to know that…you can have my efforts," he said to the ground, making no attempt to hold her close when she took a step back. "But you can't have my life," he whispered, and finally lifted his eyes. "Or my death."

She blinked, and even in her cold mask he could see the pain. He squirmed uncomfortably as she stared him down, and he knew without needing her to say it that she felt betrayed all over again.

"It's _her_, isn't it," Kikyo said, the barest tremor in her voice. "The girl…"

He pursed his lips and held her gaze, as much as he wanted to look away, and confirmed her inquiry with his silence.

After a few seconds, Kikyo bowed her head, her brows furrowing. "Hn. How appropriate."

With as awful and guilty as he felt, Inuyasha couldn't ignore the small spark of liberation that ignited within his bosom - promising a life, a future…alongside someone who had made him feel more significant and whole than Kikyo ever had.

_Kagome…_

As though she'd heard his mental confession, Kikyo flinched. He hated hurting her. It seemed all that remained of her was the hurt, so obligation moved him to offer an explanation.

He remembered when the youkai blood had first driven him mad. He remembered Kagome staying by his side, unable to leave, even if it meant her death. He recalled a similar circumstance when she'd held an arrow to his face, under a dark miko's mind control. And _he'd_ stayed, because he couldn't bring himself to leave her…even if it meant _his_ death.

Then he remembered the bitter end of his and Kikyo's relationship, both having been beguiled so easily. He took a deep breath and tilted his head until their eyes were level. "How strong could it have been, Kikyo," he began shakily, "the _feelings_ between us…if we were so quick to hate each other?"

She winced and looked away.

"I'm s-"

She raised her hand to stop his apology, and when she looked back up, her face was etched in stone - cold and unforgiving. "That doesn't change my agenda concerning you, Inuyasha," she said lowly, and then before more hurtful words could be exchanged, the miko turned her back to him. "Tomorrow," she called without turning around. "Be ready." And she melted into the shadows like a fading apparition.

Inuyasha watched her go, and stayed there for several moments after she'd disappeared. It was done. It pained him…this _closure_… But he'd had no choice. Every part of him yearned to be with someone else, now. Someone whose smile lifted his mood regardless the occasion. And remembering how Kagome had looked at him as he held her by the tree… She'd been about to confess her love. He was sure of it. He'd seen it in her eyes.

If those damn soul snatchers had just shown up a couple minutes later… He sighed. Well, they'd just have to continue that conversation. Right now, even. He turned around to seek out his reason for living, and startled.

She was already looking at him, the moonlight reflecting off the water in her dark, shadowy eyes like oil on the edge of a pond. Her bottom lip was quivering, and her hand clutched at her Shikon shards around her neck like an anchor of reality in a world of surreal. She was sad. Unbearably sad.

And it hit him. She'd misinterpretted what had transpired between he and Kikyo just now. A small smile lifted the corners of her lips as he walked towards her. _That_ could be easily remedied. "Kagome…"

She took a step back, as though they were two positives of a magnate, and turned her back to him, hunching her shoulders. The movement triggered Kouga - who had been standing nearby - to glare at him. The wolf prince went and stood beside Kagome, wrapping his arms possessively around her lithe form.

Inuyasha's mood shifted immediately, and a growl that resounded low in his chest worked its way up to explode out of his mouth in a crescendoing roar. "Get your inbred hands off her, you filthy youkai!"

Kouga did just that, but it was to move Kagome behind him protectively so they could face off. His fangs flashed white in the moonlight as he snarled viciously. "When will you learn, you retarded mut? She doesn't belong to you!"

His blood boiling, Inuyasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga, but it did little to stop Kouga from provoking him further.

"But since words can't penetrate your dim wit, then I'll just have to beat it into you!"

"STOP IT!"

Kagome's order froze them both where they stood, though their feral expressions remained. Inuyasha watched uncomfortably as Kagome placed herself in front of Kouga - in front of Kouga, not him - and put a restraining hand on his chest.

"Oi, you stupid demon," she scolded, and Inuyasha couldn't help the grin that tweaked his lips at the non-flattering title she'd given his egotistical rival. "Don't you know?" She flung an angry hand in Inuyasha's direction. "He's not any competition!"

The grin straightened. _What? _

"He's in love with someone else!" she cried, swiping at the air in a seemingly furious gesture as though to hide her hurt with anger. "He always has been!"

The animosity eased off of the wolf prince's face, and he frowned confusion at her. "I thought you said-"

"He'd rather be _dead _with her, than _alive_ with me," Kagome said, her voice catching.

Inuyasha choked. _Is that how she's seen it this whole time?_

"Then he's a greater fool than I thought him to be," Kouga said, not paying nearly as much attention to the hanyou now. "But it saves me the hassle of killing him."

"Kagome!" Inyasha yelled in rising alarm. "That's not-"

"Come," the prince cut him off, "I'll take you back to my mountain."

She shook her head. "I think I need to go home."

"Then I'll carry you."

Kagome hesitated for a half-second.

"WAIT!" Inuyasha screamed.

She winced at hearing him say her name, and in answer, threw her arms around Kouga's neck, nestling her face against his chest. The youkai swung her up in his arms with ease and turned to go.

Panicked beyond all rationale, Inuyasha lunged at them. "KAGOME!"

But they were gone, with nothing but a trail of kicked up dirt in their wake. With Kouga's shard-enhanced speed, the enraged hanyou couldn't have possibly caught them before they reached the well.

But it didn't stop him from trying.


	4. That's MESSED up

**Chapter 4 **

* * *

The clearing at the well seemed extra clear this night. The moon wasn't full, but it shone blindingly against the black backdrop of space, aided by a billion sparkling stars. The grass was illuminated in an ethereal moonglow, and the wind blew softly through the trees. It was so beautiful, so serene, so _living…_

But all Kagome could think about as Kouga eased her down by the chilled stones of the old well was the panic in Inuyasha's face as they'd sped off. He'd been mortified. It confused her. _He_ confused her, as though he could in good conscience stake a claim to Kagome when the only thing he ever saw in her was Kikyo's face.

"So this is where you slip in and out of our world," Kouga mused quietly, only slightly winded by their fast trek over. Being that close to him for that long, she'd learned that his skin was more hot than warm, and she felt abruptly cold when he'd released her.

"It is. Thank you for bringing me, Kouga-kun," she said, wondering if she'd be able to sleep at _all_ tonight. Even if it was in her ever-comfortable bed.

His slanted gaze fixed on her - those fierce, cerulean irises shining even without the rays of the sun. He smiled, and again she was struck by how incredibly confident he was.

She blinked.

_And cute._

Granted, he didn't make her heart race like Inuyasha, but from an objective viewpoint, Kouga was attractive. His deep moreno coloring was pretty, in a masculine sort of way. And she would have to be blind not to notice the swell of his chest muscles under his collarbone, or the strong sinewy strength in his biceps and forearms. And she'd never really looked at a guy's legs before, but his were pleasant to behold - defined and sturdy.

Then, of course, there was his charming face - like that of a little boy's, all grown up. Yeah. There was no doubt about it. Kouga was cute.

"You're finally looking at me," he said, his eyes crinkling in amusement. "You've never done that before." Without removing his stare, he leaned against the well, and crossed his arms casually.

"Oh," she felt the blood rush to her face and was grateful it was dark. "I, well…uh, I should be going-"

"Kagome," he said, and before she knew it he'd grabbed her hand and tugged her to him. "Relax. You can trust me."

"I…didn't say I couldn't," she stammered, flustered yet again by his advances. His fingers were still lightly clasped about her wrist, with his thumb rubbing little circles on her palm.

He sighed wistfully and tilted his head to the night sky. "After we defeat Naraku, I would have you lead our clan by my side."

She frowned, forgetting her earlier discomfort. "I'll do no such thing, Kouga. It doesn't work like that in my world."

He quirked a fine, black brow. "Then how does it work?"

"Well," she began, mentally going through a routine she had very little experience with. "First you have to ask the girl out. You know. On a _date_."

"A date?"

She nodded, relieved that he was finally listening to her. "Where you spend a few hours together having fun, and getting to know each other."

"Mating?"

She frowned. "Mate ?" she choked, suddenly understanding. "NO! Egads, Kouga. No. You really have a lot to learn."

A breathy chuckle. "Then what, love?"

_Ah, the 'love' thing,_ she thought. _That's a better place to start._ "First of all, you don't love me."

"But I do," he said earnestly, and straightened.

She clicked her tongue. "You don't even know me, Kouga."

His eyes widened, a hint of playful accusation in his tone. "You've been false with me, then?"

"Well, no-"

"Then I know you," he said with all the cocky finality of someone who had won an arguement. "And I love you."

"Oi," she hung her head and shook it, laughing despite herself. Of course he didn't take rejection seriously. He was a demon prince. He was accustomed to his words being law. And here he was flirting with her as though going up against Naraku tomorrow were as insignificant as a trip to the cemetery.

"However," he breathed as he rested his hands on her hips. For some, strange reason, she let him. She felt his breath on her forehead and again the blood rushed to her face. "I'll abide by your rules, Kagome, and be patient until you can love me back."

He was so dang sweet about it, how could she refuse? Besides, how else was she going to get over Inuyasha? She couldn't shoot down every attempt someone made to court her. Even if their idea of 'courting' was to get hitched and live in the feudal era for the rest of her life, birthing little fanged hanyous instead of humans.

Kagome sighed and nodded. "Fine. Though I still haven't figured out what it is you see in me," she said, adding silently, _but at least it's not a miko who died fifty years ago_.

"Shall I list off the reasons?"

"No!" she laughed. "You've done enough for my ego tonight, Kouga-kun. And I need to get going, now."

"Very well, Kag-"

At his pause, she glanced back up at him, and something dark…annoyed crossed his expression right then. It was subtle - a crinkle of the nose, a narrowing of his eyes as they flicked back at the woods, the corners of his mouth lowering… Then he looked back at her, and there was almost a sense of urgency to his tone.

"Let me embrace you goodbye, Kagome."

She blinked. No one had ever asked her permission for a hug before. Subliminal alarms sounded in her head, but she couldn't come up with a good reason not to. It was just a hug. Shrugging, she obliged, and slid her hands up his shoulders as he curled an arm around her waist.

His body radiated warmth like a heat lamp, and he squeezed her once, and then did something so quick, she didn't even know what was happening until it was too late.

As she pulled back, he hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his until their lips touched. She gasped, and froze, staring wide-eyed at his closed lids.

_What's he doing? _Her blood roared in her ears as the tangy heat of his mouth assaulted her senses. She might have pushed him away had his kiss been invasive, but it wasn't. It was light. Gentle. Almost not there, like a dream.

Then before her thoughts could collect in any shape or form, he pulled back and rubbed noses with her playfully, as though she were a puppy. And for one of the few times since she'd met him, he was blushing…almost giddy.

"You said _embrace_," she mouthed in residual shock, not much voice making it out with the words.

He grinned and eased her over to the edge of the well. "I did."

She twisted in his grasp to peg him with a flustered stare. "Well is that how your people embrace each other? Because-"

"No."

Her eyes narrowed to slits, "You sneaky, little-"

"Good night, Kagome," he laughed, looking for all the world like a cat who'd just gotten away with eating the canary. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She huffed, still undecided how she felt about the whole thing. "Well next time, you'd better ask permission, Kouga-kun."

He lifted a brow and smirked. "Next time?"

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she shook her head and left him there, grinning like a maniac. As the well swallowed her up and spit her out on the other side, Kagome wished whole-heartedly that she could somehow leave Inuyasha, Kikyo, Naraku, and _now_ Kouga, back in the feudal era. As it were, thoughts of all four were going to be ping-ponging in her head tonight, keeping her from her precious sleep.

Life had never been so complicated.

* * *

With his blood roaring in his ears, Inuyasha burst into the moonlit clearing of the well…

And came to a skidding halt. He got the distinct sensation of being dropped into a nightmare, and squinted through his wind-blurred vision to see…

_The wolf prince? Alone? _Hunched shoulders, bowed head, and…

_No… Not alone… _

…but curled around a smaller, more delicate body.

His breath hitched. _Kagome…?_

Their moonlit forms were blended so completely that he couldn't tell where the youkai's hair ended and hers began.

He took a trembling step forward, the denial on his lips. _Can't be… He's forcing her. Kagome would never…_

…rest her kind, giving hands encouragingly around the youkai's shoulders… Let him latch his disgusting face onto hers without pulling back…

Inuyasha suddenly felt very _very_ sick.

With a hissing intake of breath, he spun around behind the nearest tree, and leaned heavily back against it, closing his eyes.

The hanyou clutched at his chest, claws digging into his skin, as a mind-numbing ache burned behind his ribs. Even the sturdiness of the timbre wasn't enough to keep him standing when the strength left his legs. He slid weakly down the bark, trembling.

His ears were filled with the sound of his own panting - great shuddering breaths as they rattled past the colossal lump in his throat, hissing in and out of his clenched teeth.

He tried to force the visual of their entwined forms out of his head, but it was branded there like some demented tattoo on the backs of his eyelids, seared in perfect detail at the forefront of his mind. He'd been too late, and was left with a excruciating sense of loss at a path not taken…an opportunity just barely missed.

There was one other time when he'd felt an emotion so poignantly deteriorating, he couldn't even describe it, but back then he'd had the merciful distraction of dodging a miko's arrows. Now he was faced with the raw, naked sentiment without adornment or apology.

And Hell, Inuyasha decided, would pale in comparison.

"Hanyou."

He flinched. _That voice._ Rude. Arrogant. Condescending.

With his face still creased in a grimace, Inuyasha peered up through his heavy bangs, blinking away the water standing in his eyes so he could better see…

_him…_

And Kouga was looking down at Inuyasha with his typical haughty aggravation, but mixed in with it was something even more disturbing, debilitating…demeaning.

_Pity._

Inuyasha hissed at him, not trusting his vocal cords for much else. Reflex insisted that the wolf prince had gone too far this time - that nothing could save him from Tetsusaiga's wrath now. But there was one aspect of the scene Inuyasha had just witnessed that stayed his hand.

The embrace. It had been mutual. And it was Inuyasha himself that had practically driven her into the youkai's arms.

"_Leave me_," the hanyou spat in a strangled tone, and hung his head between his knees, still gripping at the pain in his chest as though to rip it out with his bare claws.

The youkai shifted weight from one leg to the other, but lingered. "You were an idiot to think that you could have them both." The words were surprisingly without malice.

"GO!"

A snort. "I'll leave," came the deep, forceful tone. "But she belongs with me, hanyou. Respect that."

Inuyasha spat and turned his head, the whirring of Kouga's departure doing little to erase the stench of his presence.

And the dog boy stayed there, crumpled at the base of the tree for hours, wondering how his body could go on living when it felt like his soul was dead.

* * *

At some point during the night, morbid acceptance touched Inuyasha's awareness - bitter and angry after so many hours of pondering the regrets of his life. In a dim remnant of his former self, Inuyasha latched onto the fleeting belligerence, and rose to his feet. Not knowing what drove him, and not caring to identify it, he staggered over to the well and dropped into it.

Kagome might be finished with him, but he was far from being finished with her.


	5. Doh! Bad Idea...

**Chapter 5 **

* * *

She'd been absolutely right. 

Despite the nice soft mattress, and enveloping, snug blankets - the lingering scent of her mother's wonderful cooking mixed with the fresh clean smell of washed sheets…

Kagome, could not sleep.

One would think it was because they'd be going up against _the_ Naraku tomorrow - the most malevolent and dangerous villain of the feudal era.

But no. Her mind was filled with much more trivial…_petty_ matters. Such as the butterflies that fluttered in her tummy when she thought about the way Inuyasha had looked at her by the tree, or the following deep ache of despair when she realized that he'd only seen Kikyo in her eyes. And then there was the absolutely ridiculous matter of what had transpired at the well with Kouga - and that after a good soapy shower and brushed, minty teeth, she could still taste his kiss on her lips.

Sighing wistfully, she clasped her arms up behind her head, and stretched. Kouga's attention _had_ alleviated the pain of Inuyasha's rejection. Not completely by any means, but it had at least taken the edge off. Perhaps she'd be wise to court the wolf prince, like Kaede suggested…

Kagome snorted. _If I could get him to behave…_

Sneaky boy had kissed her without warning, but because he was so subtle with it, he'd made it past all her barriers. And granted, his attention would at least help her to be more objective about her precious friendship with Inuyasha who meant more to her than…

_Egh..._

She cringed. There was that ache again. Like the hanyou's name was attached to the nerve endings in her heart.

She sighed. If she could succeed in distracting herself from him with someone else, then the purity of their relationship would be uncluttered by hurt and envy. And Inuyasha could go on loving Kikyo without having to deal with Kagome's strained feelings.

_Yeah. Things would be so much simpler that way…_

But there was one problem. Inuyasha's inexplicable, but undeniable jealousy. It made absolutely no sense. Was it because he particularly hated Kouga? Or was he just possessive of Kagome because she was the spitting image of his old girlfriend?

A soft patter perked her senses. It was muffled, like the sound of bare feet on packed dirt. She frowned, as it was followed by an audible 'thud' outside her window, and the brittle chinking sound of shifting roof tile.

_What?_ Alarmed, she sat up in bed as…

_…he_ stepped through her window.

"Inuyasha?"

He straightened, his wide dark frame silhouetted black against the moonlit window. He faced her, his shadowed form trembling with great guttural breaths. He made to step closer, and then froze, clenching his fists at his sides. His silent behavior was more than just ominous. It was downright unnerving.

"Inuyasha, what happened?" she asked, barely remembering to make it a whisper in time for her sleeping family's sake. "Is everyone okay? Did Naraku attack-"

"Keh!" Derisive. Rude. He flung an accusatory finger in her direction. "Don't pretend like you don't know why I'm here!"

She winced at the decibel of his voice, and then frowned confusion. "Eh?"

With a huff, he started pacing back and forth along her creaking floorboards, mumbling incoherencies like a drunken transient. He was so tense, she thought he might snap his own shoulder blades.

As a matter of fact, it looked like he was about to explode. She got up, not bothering to change out of her pajamas and put her shoes on.

"Where are you going?" he barked.

Egads, he was loud. She gripped the sleeve of his red shirt and tugged him towards the window after her. "We're going to the shrine."

"Why?"

"Because it has walls, and you seem to be incapable of whispering right now."

"What does that have to do-"

"The only reason my mother lets me go back to the feudal era is because she doesn't know how dangerous it is, and if you're up here barking about some great evil afoot, then I'll be grounded for sure!"

That seemed to silence him, and he followed stiffly, but obediently to the well. They hopped off the roof, and padded through the dirt to the old shrine. Once they were inside, she turned with her hands on her hips, and frowned up at him. "Now what's this all about?"

He got in her face, his golden eyes on fire. "_You…!_"

"Me?"

He began to pace again like a distraught phantom. "Of all the people to…" wheeze, pant, "I can't...believe you..." snarl, cough, huff.

She blinked. "What?"

He spun and faced her, the next words coming out in a yell. "YOU KISSED HIM KAGOME!"

She took a surprised step back. "Kouga?"

"GAH!" He swiped at the air and continued pacing.

"How did you-"

"I saw you...together," he cringed and closed his eyes. "By the well."

A part of her wanted to throw herself at him and tell him how sorry she was, and that she'd never do it again. But fortunately, that part was overshadowed by a much more righteous indignation.

"Oh. You mean like how I saw you and Kikyo those times?"

He paused, his wide eyes fixing on some random spot on the floor.

"Hmm. But then again, maybe not," she continued snidely. "After all, _I_ didn't forego living just so I could commit my soul to _eternal damnation_ out of undying love for the guy."

He stared mutely, as though he'd never drawn the parallel. As though it hadn't even crossed his mind.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. Could he really be_ that _self-centered? Dim-witted?

When he spoke next, his voice was a little more cautious. "You...you can't compare."

She quirked a brow, and crossed her arms. Her foot began to tap steadily on the floor in growing aggravation.

"Don't look at me like that!" he barked, obviously more comfortable in his angry skin than his conflicted skin. "It's different. That filthy youkai scum is disgusting-"

"He's actually quite sweet to me."

"The bastard kidnapped you for your miko sight!"

"And you tried to cut me in half when _we_ first met, but you don't see me holding that over _your_ head, now, do you?"

His jaw dropped, clearly offended. "Kill you? _Keh!_ I was trying to _scare_ you, idiot! Believe me. If I'd been trying to kill you, you'd be dead."

She shrugged bitterly. "Whatever. Either way, I don't know why you would even care, since you're in love with Kikyo."

His eyes widened, but his expression was no less feral. "I am not!"

She sighed heavily. "Please. Spare me your "I-don't-care-about-anyone nonsense. You're as easy to read as a book."

He towered over her, his hands in fists. "Then you must be illiterate!"

She sighed heavily and tilted her head back to the ceiling in exasperation. "This is pointless. You're such a bonehead."

"And you're such a tramp!"

Her hand snaked out and cuffed him hard on the mouth before she'd even given it permission to do so. She knew his insults were usually empty, but damn. That one crossed the line. "How _dare_ you," she seethed.

It knocked the piss and vinegar right out of him. He held a hand up to his stinging lips and took a step back. It couldn't have possibly hurt him, but the shimmering in his eyes made it look as though she'd just ripped his heart out.

"Tramp _indeed_," she trembled. "I went back for you, Inuyasha! Remember?"

He blinked, his brows lifting in..._something_. And she bludgeoned on, as though every word were her last.

"I went back _knowing_ you'd chosen her - that she had your heart. And do you know why?"

He clenched his teeth and dropped his hand. The words seemed as difficult for him to hear as they were for her to say. But the dam had burst. They needed to be said.

"Because I _care_ about you," she hissed, and turned away from him before continuing. "And I'd put up with the pain of your rejection ten times over if it meant that somehow, my being there has kept you safe and well."

Silence. Strained, uncomfortable silence. She couldn't see his reaction, which was fine. Kagome didn't know if she was ready for it.

"But then…" his voice hitched, and his next words little more than a whisper, "why did you kiss him?"

She rubbed the moisture from her eyes with the heels of her palms. Could this _be_ any more difficult? "I have to get over you, Inuyasha," she breathed. "My jealousy is clouding my judgment, making me useless. I can't be a good friend to you if I'm constantly wanting something that you can't give me."

"Kagome…"

She shook her head bitterly, finding it so unfair that _she_ had to be the one to bare her soul. "Save it. And let me date who I want, especially since it's indirectly for your sake, anyhow."

"You can't be with him-"

"Ugh! See, there you go again," she snapped, and spun on him. "Confusing the heck out of me by worrying over a relationship that we _don't_ have. Acting like I'm your property when someone else already gave me my first kiss!"

His expression darkened. "Idiot," he said, "_I_ was your first kiss."

She blinked. "What?"

His eyes widened, and he turned away, as though mentally thwacking himself for letting something slip out that he shouldn't have.

"What did you say?" she asked again, more than a little alarmed at his sudden mood change.

"Nothing."

She grabbed his elbow and made him face her. He startled and tried to take a step back. "_Inuyashaaaa_," she said in a threatening tone - the same one she used as a precursor to the 'Sit' command.

He shifted, a nervous glance flicking back at her face.

"If you don't tell me, I'll-"

"It was the spell! The…necromancer's spell." he yelled in his defense. Defense of what, she needed to figure out.

Her eyes narrowed, as she remembered coming to in Kaede's hut, having no memory of the night before but being dressed in little more than Inuyasha's red shirt. Suddenly, a vague apprehension made her body go cold. "What _about_ it..."

He started to fidget unbearably, wincing everytime he looked up to see her staring at him. "It...it made you..."

"Made me _what_?"

His shoulders hunched, and the blood rose to his cheeks in a furious blush. He looked up sheepishly through silvered bangs. "You…_attacked_ me, Kagome."

She blinked slowly. Attacked. There were a couple ways to interpret that, but by his expression, she doubted it had anything to do with a mindless flurry of punches and kicks. Which meant that...

_Oh, Gods..._

She brought a trembling hand to her mouth, barely stifling a shocked cry. He took an impulsive step towards her and she raised a hand to keep him at bay as her mind struggled to catch up, shooting him an incredulous glare.

"And you let me?"

"Well, I…" he looked down at his feet, and Kagome got the impression that if he'd had pockets, his hands would be hiding in them. "I stopped you," he mumbled, averting his eyes. "Eventually."

Her voice failed her, and she gawked at him in horrified shock. Miroku, yes. But Inuyasha? "You opportunistic, perverted _bastard_!"

She could have slapped him and had less effect. He choked and stepped back, his mouth fumbling clumsily over a hundred denials.

"What!" she cried, before he could compose himself, barely noticing the tears as they rolled down her cheeks, "Did you pretend I was _her_ for a while before you finished toying with my body?"

He gasped as though she'd stabbed him. "It...it wasn't like that!"

"Because no one was around? No one would be the wiser? You could have your fantasy Kikyo-"

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" he screamed, and crossed the distance between them to wrap her up in his arms. "Gods, Kagome. I didn't know…"

She found herself smashed against his chest in a fierce hug, soiling his shirt with her tears. The embrace hurt her soul. Like it always did. Filling up the void that he'd caused, only to drain it again once he pushed her aside. She realized how much he messed with her mind - like Naraku messed with Sango's. Tantalizing her all the time with his affection when it was sorely misplaced.

"You know, it'd m-make my life easier, Inuyasha," she sobbed, sniffed, "if you'd just admit that the only reason you're

possessive of me…is because I remind you of _Kikyo_..."

He went from hugging her to grabbing her shoulders and shaking her forcefully. Through her blurred, jolting vision, she could have sworn she saw water standing in his eyes. "Stop saying her name! You couldn't be more wrong," he yelled, his fangs flashing in anger.

She inhaled a shuddering breath. "What do you know?" she shot back. "You're so confused, you don't know a live body from a clay replica!"

Clearly stung, he dropped her, and stepped back. That one hurt him, but he grimaced away the burn of it and snapped back with his usual flare. "There's no point in trying to talk with you. You don't listen to a word I say!"

"Only because you have a propensity for buying into your own bullshit!"

His eyes grew saucer-wide, and he began to stammer. "_K…Kag…goommeeeee…!_" His lips thinned and he chewed over unvoiced invective that frothed at the tip of his tongue. Kagome thought she could see the steam coming out of his ears, right then. But she was solid in her accusation. Egads, she'd been dealing with this for months now.

With a shakey exhale, he combed his oscillating claws through his thick hair and clasped them behind his neck. "You brat," he said, his voice still trembling. "There's so much I've been trying to tell you-"

She stomped her foot in the ground. "Then say it!"

He spat and swung his arm in a furious gesture. "What's the point if you're just going to tell me I'm lying?"

"It's called 'communicating'. COM-MUN-I-CATING. If you don't try it once in a while, you'll never get good at-"

She gasped as he suddenly materialized in front of her. Then, with no more warning than a glint in his eye, he grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her.

Hard.

It sucked the breath from her lungs and she yelped against his mouth, her mind completely scattering as his tongue lapped anxiously against hers. It was dizzying. Insane. Way more aggressive than anything she'd dreamed of…

Instinct fought the attack - after all, it _was_ an attack - and where she'd just frozen with the wolf prince, Kagome fought with the hanyou. She pushed at him, squirmed, whimpered.

But instead of releasing her, he redoubled his efforts. With a frustrated growl, he curled one hand behind her head and dropped the other to cage her body against him, deepening the liplock with a frightening determination - as though he had something to prove.

And despite her conservative nature, it wasn't long before she felt herself go slack in his arms, responding to the frenzy of his kiss. It was beyond exhilarating, beyond exciting. She suddenly understood what the big deal was, and found herself matching his intensity. His eagerness.

The ardor unexpectedly gave her the odd, unprecedented urge to lie flat on her back.

And _that_ scared her.

"In…Inu..mph!" she struggled against his mouth and bit his lower lip until he finally grunted discomfort and pulled back. She braced her arms against his chest to keep him there, peering up into his face. "Inuyasha!"

He panted down at her through heavy-lidded eyes. His cheeks were flushed crimson, and he tugged his bottom lip in between his teeth to nurse it from her bite. He wanted to continue. She could see it. Hell. She would have let him, but this was all too damn crazy.

"What…are you doing?" she breathed, achingly aware of the scant inch of heated space between them.

His chest rose and fell under her hands, and his eyes crinkled in…_something_. He moved his hand to rub his thumb lightly along her lips, and one corner of his mouth lifted. "I'm _communicating_."

She blinked. _Huh?_ Now that he'd released her, her wits were able to gather, and she found herself under the same impression as before. That the only vested affection he had in her was by virtue of the fact that she wore Kikyo's face.

Was the hormonal attack supposed to prove otherwise? "I...I don't understand."

He frowned at her, and his shoulders sagged. He seemed disappointed. "Still?"

She shook her head lightly.

He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. "Girl, you belong with me," he said, and then a darker expression crossed his face, and he sneered at the well. "That pampered youkai whelp will know that, now."

She stiffened. No confession of love. No differentiating between she and Kikyo. He hadn't even said Kagome's name. She hissed slowly and bowed her head, closing her eyes. _How could I have let this happen? _

"What…is it?" he asked, his voice wavering…unsure…nervous.

With a sudden burst of strength, she shoved him back, and he tripped, falling on his elbows. He stared up at her from his undignified spot on the ground in mute shock.

"So what am I now, a concubine?" she asked, feeling the residual passion dehydrate under the hot rays of a growing resentment.

"What?" His confusion took on a bitter edge, and the usual Inuyasha temperament reared its ugly head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Is this some demented, territorial game you're playing with Kouga?"

"WHAT?"

"Thinking that the tree stump is automatically yours now because you urinated on it?"

He jumped to his feet. "You stubborn, thick-skulled little vixen! Are you isane?"

"No," she snapped, "But _you_ are if you think I'm going to let you keep me on the back burner as a stand-in girlfriend for when Kikyo isn't around!"

He didn't breathe for about three seconds. Then as though he could no longer bear the sight of her, he spun around and leaned heavily against the well, hanging his head between his shoulders. When he spoke, his words were guttural...dripping with frustration. "You...are so..._impossible_..."

She gaped. _I'M impossible?_ Acting on an infuriated impulse, Kagome marched up and shoved him over the edge, sending his happy ass back to the feudal era.

She hadn't anticipated that he would catch her wrist on the way down and yank her with him.


	6. Chicks kick a$$

**Ugh. I finally figured out how to rewrite this chapter so it's not so convoluted. Haven't done it yet, and if it gets too confusing, skim ahead. I just had to do some setting up for the sequels, Soledad and Venganza. **

**  
Chapter 6 **

* * *

"Why did you push me?" 

"Why do you think?" Kagome shot back, as they materialized at the bottom of the well in the feudal era. "Just looking at you makes me furious!"

"Now you know how _I_ feel!" he barked back, his amber eyes nearly glowing with belligerence.

"Then why did you bring me with you?"

"Keh! Reflex. Go on back to your own time!"

"Fine!" she snapped, drumming her fingers on her arm, waiting for him to take a hint and climb out of the well so she didn't make the mistake of taking him back with her. To her great annoyance she noticed the color of the sky was lightening. It was dawn already, and she hadn't slept a wink.

He pursed his lips, and fumed audibly before he hopped out. She watched him depart through narrowed eyes. But, needing to get the last word in, he hovered over the roof of the well and spat down at her, "And when you get there, STAY THERE!"

She gasped in offended shock, but quickly fought the tightening in her chest with a shaky retort. "Oh, you thought I'd actually come back? And for a womanizing, arrogant pervert, no less? Well think again,_ ass_!"

Kagome didn't wait to see his reaction. Every new insult seemed to make her feel that much worse inside. She had to get away from him before she lost it completely. She focused on the floor, and shifted her weight, readying for the portal to suck her back in.

"KAG-OM…" he broke off, mid speech, with an alarmed, "Hn?"

Just about that time, Kagome noticed a long, eel-like shadow cross the well, and she couldn't stop herself from tilting her head back. What she saw made her stomach drop.

_The soul snatchers…_

In the heat of their argument, she'd nearly forgotten. Kikyo. Naraku. It was time. Inuyasha's gaze lingered on the luminescent things, and after a moment, he looked back down at Kagome, his expression wholly changed.

"Kagome," he said with an underlying intensity, his eyes more worried than angry. "I mean it. Go back to your time."

She gawked at him. "Idiot! You think I'd run away from this?" She started scrambling up the walls of the well. "Besides, what if it's a trap? Just a cover for Kikyo to lure you out and kill you? Someone needs to-"

"Will you shut up already about Kikyo?" he yelled, and then grimaced, clearly not wanting to delve into that unresolved issue again.

Kagome reached over the ledge of the well, and he blocked her. She shoved angrily at him, but it was like trying to move a brick wall. "Oi, Inuyasha. Why are you being so difficult?"

"I won't let you come!" he snapped, and pried her fingers loose. She yelped and fell back, scuffing her rear along the stones on the way down.

"You don't have a choice!" she screamed, getting up again. This time as she scrambled the masonry, she called out a very clipped, "SIT!" It was followed immediately but a 'fwoomp!' and Inuyasha's muttered curse. Still in her pajamas, Kagome swung her legs over the edge of the well, fighting a shiver that crawled down her spine as the soul snatchers writhed impatiently about them.

"Let me get my bow-"

"_You_," he seethed, staggering to his feet. His shoulders were bunched tightly, and he shook like a skyscraper in an earthquake. "You don't get it!" he barked. "I can't be worrying about you getting hurt this time!"

She took a step back. "But-"

"You're a distraction! A nuisance! The shards are already gathered, so we don't need you anymore."

Kagome gawked, mutely. _Is that all I've ever been to you?_ She felt the blood drain from her face as her self-confidence plummeted. "I…I thought…Miroku said you fight better when I'm here…"

"Feh!" he spat, breaking eye contact. "What difference does it make if I'm wasting all my time rescuing your pathetic, human ass from trouble?"

The validity of the statement hit her like the side of a mountain. If Kagome had an Achilles heel, then that was it. Unbidden, the memories of a hundred rescues flashed behind her eyes, and she realized he was absolutely right. How could she not have seen it earlier? She felt the strength seep out of her legs and she plunked down against the outside of the well. She looked up at him through teary eyes, and he turned his back to her. "You…mean this, Inuyasha…" she stated, more than asked.

"Yes," he muttered, refusing to meet her eyes. "You're weak. Nothing but a hindrance."

"Oh…" She dropped her watery gaze to her hands, which were oscillating in inches. The tightening in her chest became unbearable, and her lips quivered with emotion. She stared at his back, at that long mane of angry silver hair, wondering in her growing insignificance if she ever had a place in this age to begin with.

"Go home, Kagome," Inuyasha said, the bravado gone from his tone. "Your work is done, here." With that, he departed, disappearing like a wayward arrow into the woods after the soul snatchers.

The empty, despairing uselessness hit her like a colossal cankerous wave, and watching Inuyasha leave like that made her feel, quite literally, that a part of her had died. A _huge_ part. And she was left to ponder the nature of their friendship, and if he'd ever really cared about her at all.

"KAGOME!"

She blinked. Sango's voice. Urgent. She slowly lifted her head to see her friends - if she could in fact call them that - riding the great white Kirara overhead. Soul snatchers led the way. Miroku had her bow and arrows in his hand, waving down to her.

Kagome sat motionless as the fire cat touched down in the grass, and Sango motioned for her to join them. "Ah. Good. I thought you'd still be in the future. Have you seen Inuyasha?" Then the demon exterminator frowned, finally catching on that something was different. "Kagome? Are you alright?"

Kagome wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Go on without me," she managed through the lump in her throat. "I'll just be in your way."

Miroku hopped off immediately, and crouched down beside her, resting a solid hand on her shoulder. His face was worried. Concerned. "Kagome-sama, what happened?"

She turned away from him. From them both, as Sango had now joined him beside her. Shippo, fortunately had been left behind. "Nothing," she hiccupped. "I just realized that I'm always in your way. That-"

She found herself heaved up on her feet by an uncharacteristically impatient Miroku. "Nonsense. We need you," he said heatedly, clenching his voided hand before them. "This may be our chance to destroy Naraku," he seethed, the pain of his grandfather's curse apparent in his eyes. "And we need you there, Kagome. Every youkai you fell with your arrow is one less for us to take out."

"He's right," Sango said, the passion in her expression par with Miroku's own. "You're an asset, and Naraku must be stopped at all costs."

They meant it. And because they meant it, she started to believe it again. Picking up what was left of her courage after Inuyasha had shattered it, Kagome walked shakily over to Kirara and hopped on.

She told herself over and over as they ascended into the air that she _wouldn't_ need rescuing this time. That she would make a difference, and prove Inuyasha wrong. Somehow.

* * *

"KOHAKU!"

Kagome stiffened mid-shot when she heard Sango's scream. She looked over barely in time to see the boy fall to the ground like a marionette with the strings cut. The Shikon shard that had breathed life into his dead body was now in the clutches of one of Naraku's nasty youkai appendages, reeling it back to the accursed villain like a fish on a line.

The demon exterminator collapsed over the corpse of her now-dead brother, oblivious to the monsters around her. Kagome raised her bow, and began to take out the snake-like demons that hovered near them, one by one. The woman had just lost her last living kin. Her shock couldn't be helped.

_Oh, Sango…_

Naraku's booming laughter sounded in her ears. She looked up to see the monstrous form hovering in the air like some demented, writhing sea urchin, its tentacles made up of snapping youkai heads. In one of its tips was the Shikon no Tama - complete.

Just as Kikyo had anticipated.

_She'd better do it, now,_ Kagome thought in rising resentment. _Work her magics, like she said…_ She scoured the battle field for the miko during those brief pauses in between attacks, her eyes taking in and assessing all.

It was day, but the sky above them was blackened with Naraku's dark aura like a cloud of ill omen. It was terrifying, the sickening sounds of death all around her. Fortunately, her body ran well on nervous energy, and the adrenaline served only to make her shots more accurate.

But still, Kikyo had been a fool not to let them attack last night. Be it by fate, or chance, she had located Naraku's residence, but had gambled on the day that he would change into his weakened human form. And she'd been wrong.

So wrong…

Instead of finding him debilitated and cowering in his rooms, they found him invigorated, and empowered by the quantity of the Shikon no Tama in his possession. And then of course he had produced four more offspring that made his earlier creations look like chibi toys.

A loud clang of metal sounded, and Sesshoumaru touched down not far from her. She hadn't been surprised when _he_ showed up, no doubt summoned by Kikyo as well. Apparently Naraku had done a stupid thing when he'd kidnapped Rin and used her against the dog demon.

A very _very_ stupid thing.

The moist thud of falling chunks of flesh filled her ears as Sesshoumaru's latest victim rained in pieces about them, and he dashed without skipping a beat at the next creature that stood between he and Naraku.

A sudden movement in her peripheral vision caused Kagome to swing and fire her arrow, eliminating another lesser youkai that had been about to attack her from the side. In her line of sight after it fell, her eyes landed on Kouga, whose calves were both bleeding profusely. He'd been attacked by the same creature that had yanked the shards off her own neck, its main weapon being invisibility. That was what started the battle, actually, and she was impressed and relieved to see that Kouga was holding his own, despite the lack of the Shikon shards in his legs. And against Kagura, no less.

"KAZE NO KIZUU!" Inuyasha's battle cry rang out as he chomped down on another of Naraku's children in the distance, and it dissipated in the blast of Tetsusaiga. The hanyou jerkily glanced over his shoulder at her, as he'd done a hundred times since she'd arrived - his initial irritation at her for coming drowned out now by worry and panic at her well-being.

The brief distraction cost him the advantage, however, as a putrid, globular youkai slammed into him, knocking him clear back by her feet. He hopped up on the rebound and flung at it.

Kagome nearly doubled over at the surge of guilt that flooded her. It was just like he'd said. She was a distraction. The smattering of demons she killed was laughable in comparison to those that the _real_ fighters had-

A whoosh sounded over her head, and the mandible of a youkai fell at her feet. She looked over to see Miroku running over to her, staff in hand. "Kagome-sama… Is Sango-"

Kagome nodded with her chin at the fallen exterminator, her voice shaky. "Kohaku is dead."

The monk's lips thinned, and he looked over at Sango with more emotion in his face than she'd ever seen. "Damn him," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Damn Naraku."

As though on some twisted cue, Naraku's maniacal laughter clapped at them, as loud as thunder. Kagome leaned into Miroku, not taking her eyes off the villain, who was glowing red with some virulent, destructive energy.

"Where's Kikyo?" Kagome screamed, terrified of Naraku's awesome power level now that the Shikon no Tama was in his hands. "The ball is complete. She said she'd-"

"_Juro sea unsofredor…_" came the miko's voice, as she chanted a spell several yards away. Her hair floated eerily about her as she was consumed by a blue aura that raised her into the air like an apparition. Her face was barely strained, but undeniably focused on the Shikon no Tama in Naraku's clutches. Though hushed, her words carried with them the momentum of a tsunami, and the villain visibly flinched.

"Kagome," Miroku panted, eyeing the swarm of hornets overhead with great irritation. "We can't count on Sango right now, and our demon allies have their hands full. Protect Kikyo from the hovering youkai, and I'll cover her from the other side. She must complete this enchantment!"

Kagome nodded breathlessly, and strung another arrow. "Hai!"

Swinging his staff like a morningstar, the monk charged off to battle a batch of slithering evil from the side.

"Hurry up, Kikyo!" Inuyasha screamed, as both he and Sesshoumaru were pushed back, placing them at an equal distance between Kagome and the miko. The situation was dire, but Kagome couldn't deny the feeling of raw power she got from watching the brothers fight side by side - as though it was meant to be from the beginning.

As though they were fools to ever be enemies.

"_Kikyo_," Naraku called out over the clangs and screams of the battle. "You think that you can stop me now?"

The miko scowled in response, the cadence of her words speeding up. Kagome noticed with growing hope that Naraku's confident expression shifted to alarm when the Shikon no Tama began to oscillate violently, its color shifting from blood red to an ominous gray. It was happening. The ball would swallow Naraku whole, soon.

Naraku snarled, and slapped the Shikon no Tama to his mouth, swallowing it. The ball lodged in the center of his bulbous body, glowing even through the thick layers of youkai skin.

It must not have been a good sign because Kikyo's voice faltered, and both Inuyasha _and_ Sesshoumaru swore. The villain's irises swelled black as he glared at the miko - hatred in its purest form. Then he glanced at Inuyasha, distracted. Kagome didn't know what thoughts were running behind his evil eyes, but she nearly stumbled from the force of his animosity alone.

Especially when his malevolent gaze locked in turn on _her_.

She took a step back as his lip curled. Inuyasha caught on to what was happening before she did, and outright screamed.

Two bolts of black lightning snaked out so fast, Kagome's brain didn't even have time to tell her legs to move. Her death flashed before her eyes, and her breath caught…

And something solid moved between she and the blast, thumping into her body with enough force to knock the wind from her lungs.

_Inuyasha!_

It hit, flinging them both back, and her hearing was filled with the hanyou's cry as he took the blow that was meant for her, dead on. He landed on top of her, immobile, and groaning, and as she lifted her head, she saw that his entire upper torso was charred, the skin bubbling off his back in thick, sizzling clumps.

"No…" she breathed, her eyes filling up with tears. She nudged him slightly for a coherent response, but he just laid there rigor mortis, stiff with pain. Kagome stifled a sob. Fear shifted to panic which shifted to a vortex of despair. "Inuyasha, you should have let me take it…"

_I came to help... I didn't mean..._ She broke down. It happened just like he said it would. He risked his life to defend her weakness, and now he was hurt. Really bad.

Naraku's laughter boomed. "I knew you'd save the girl over the miko, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha flinched, "Kik…_yo…_"

_Oh no… Don't tell me…_ With her stomach in her throat, Kagome turned her head to peer through Inuyasha's heavy mane of silver hair to see the miko…

In pieces.

Shattered shards of red clay littered the ground where the woman had stood in a disturbingly human outline. Her clothes flattened to the ground like a deflated balloon, no longer supported by a whole form, and her long black hair had gone white and brittle, flaking off in the putrid wind. Half of Kikyo's face was left in tact, but her one eye was hollow, the bitter soul having been released from its confinement at last.

Kagome nearly retched. She would have died ten times over rather than be spared in this terrible manner - salvaged at the last minute by Inuyasha because he'd assumed wrongly that Kikyo had been strong enough to withstand the same blast. Even Naraku had foreseen it, and now not only was the woman he loved dead, but all hope was lost as well. The spell hadn't been completed.

_Kagome_ had screwed it all up.

"Gods, I'm sorry," she sobbed in the hanyou's hair, thinking that the words sounded wholly inadequate for the gaping chasm of guilt that swallowed her awareness right then. "So…so sorry, Inuyasha."

He was trembling from the pain of the blast, unable to even look up at her. Even if he'd been capable, she doubted he would have made eye contact. She'd just inadvertently sent Kikyo's soul to hell-

Kagome blinked the water from her eyes. _Kikyo's soul…_ She searched for it, like she searched for the Shikon shards. Desperately. It was the only coherent thought that pushed through the weight of Inuyasha's maimed body, and the chaos of her anguish.

And she found it, a feint, cloudy apparition, simmering around the clay corpse with a macabre tenacity, trying in vain to adhere back to a body that was no longer there. Her soul just wouldn't let go.

Acting on impulse, Kagome reached her hand out and called to it. Kikyo didn't belong in hell, she decided. Far from it. The soul that was once sundered apart needed to be rejoined before any other force could claim it, be it heaven _or_ hell.

The question was, could she do it?

* * *

Kouga leapt to the left as Kagura blew another attack at him. He dodged it easily, just as he had the rest of her onslaught. For some reason, it seemed like she was fighting for show rather than with the intent of killing him. It was both humiliating and confusing. Though he hated to admit it, the bitch could have finished him off if she'd really wanted to by now. After all, _she_ was the one who had slaughtered hundreds of his brethren, and then in some sick display of heartlessness, reanimated their corpses to fight against the wolf prince.

It was by far the most horrible, most poignant moment of his entire life, and he hated her for it. Loathed her. One day he would kill her, even. But first, Naraku. If she'd just stop toying with him and let him pass.

Inuyasha' scream distracted him. Horrified. Desperate. As though the hanyou had intended to stop the chain of events by voice alone. His head swiveled in that direction, and he choked.

Two black bolts lanced out from Naraku's monstrous, ambiguous form, heading for the miko and…

"KAGOME!"

He lunged forward, not noticing nor caring that Kagura moved aside so he could. But he was too slow. He stifled a cry as a flurry of silver and red materialized in front of Kagome at the last minute, and took the hit. But then his vision was blurred by dust particles when the very same blast shattered Kikyo. Literally. No blood, no rips in her flesh. Just skinless chunks of pottery.

Kouga leapt over her remains, cringing at Naraku's laughter. The others were engaged in battle, but all he could focus on was the pale, terrified face buried underneath the hanyou's torched body.

Kagome's hand was stretched out to him. Kouga paused. No. Not at him, but at the miko's pieces behind him. She was trying to do something, and he jolted as a soul passed through him, as angry and bitter as he'd ever felt. At first he thought it was an errant youkai on its way to hell, but then he recognized the vibe.

It was the miko, torn from this life before she could finish the spell that would destroy their nemesis. Kagome was trying to claim her spirit for herself. It hovered through and past him, a cloudy apparition that was more confused than coherent. Kouga gasped as it reached the tip of Kagome's fingers and was sucked in immediately, as though it had no place being anywhere else. The girl pulsed once with an eerie blue light, and then her focus was redirected in its entirety on the hanyou.

Regaining his senses, he ran over to her and knelt down, wincing at Inuyasha's injuries. He saw more bone in his back than flesh, and even some of those were charred beyond recognition. Sure the guy was half demon, but Kouga had never seen anyone recover from such severe injuries. And no small part of him was sincerely grateful for his old rival's sacrifice. After all, it had saved the wolf prince's woman.

"_Inuyasha_," Kagome hiccupped, tears streaking her face in dark, dirty lines. Her hands stroking a crimson face that was closed in a grimace of pain. "Can you hear me?"

Kouga reached over and gingerly lifted the hanyou's body off of Kagome, laying him face down in the dirt. Kagome sat up and wept over him like a widow in mourning, and Kouga couldn't help but to wonder if she'd feel equally upset at his own demise.

The monk, the dog demon, and firecat were battling the remaining youkai, and it suddenly occurred to Kouga that they might lose. Naraku's power radiated off his form with an insane intensity, and he realized that the Shikon no Tama was once again complete and in the wrong hands. The wolf prince's survival instincts kicked in, and he grabbed Kagome's wrist.

"We cannot win, here," he said, forcing her to peel her stare away from the hanyou and look at him. "And I have no intention of letting you die."

Her face scrunched, and she opened her mouth to retort when a piercing scream straightened his spine. They both swiveled their heads to the noise. And Kouga blinked.

The one they called Sango, rose steadily to her feet over the corpse of her fallen brother, boomerang clenched tightly in a white-knuckled grip. Her exterminator mask was covering half her face, but her eyes… He could have sworn he saw demon in them. And more than just that.

All the righteous indignation of a God of Vengeance.

"NARAKU!" she cried, her shoulders trembling.

Both Miroku and Sesshoumaru turned and watched her with widening eyes, as did the demons they fought.

Naraku began to mock her. "Kukuku… Sango. Are you upset over the loss of your brother?" he said in that eerily melodious voice, more amused than intimidated. "Don't worry. He merited his death ten times over in my service-"

His words were abruptly silenced by a whirring boomerang that sliced through his foremost appendages, shutting him right up. Kouga gaped. When had she thrown it?

Naraku hissed and recoiled, his earlier cocky expression shifting into pained shock. Before the Shikon no Tama could regenerate his lost limbs, the exterminator had caught her boomerang on the rebound, mid leap, and flung it at him again. Naraku's eyes widened and he moved just in time to keep from being decapitated, but in the process lost another good chunk of youkai flesh.

"_Wench_!" he snapped, and Kouga couldn't deny that he was encouraged to see the villain finally lose composure. Granted, the Shikon no Tama would regenerate his missing limbs any second, but damn. That _had_ to hurt.

Slithering bolts, not unlike the one that had destroyed Kikyo, shot out at Sango from Naraku's extended mouth. But she leapt about them like a winged insect, and Kouga couldn't help but to be in awe of her awesome, inhuman strength. Sango was enraged…crazed… And it served to their advantage. Sesshoumaru tore away from his opponent and charged them, clearly capitalizing on a moment when Naraku was being distracted.

Kouga's grip on Kagome's arm loosened. There might be hope yet. "Stay here," he muttered and ran to aid the monk in battling the random youkais, to keep them from molesting the dog demon and the exterminator as they took on Naraku.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Sango's next vicious attack, which enabled Sesshoumaru to slice open Naraku's gut. "Ha!" Kouga breathed as the Shikon no Tama dislodged from Naraku's flesh and started to fall. Sango, on the ground below raced forward to grab it.

"NO!" Sesshoumaru screamed, disentangling himself from Naraku's wailing youkai heads. "Don't touch it!"

It was more emotion than Kouga had seen the ever-composed dog demon express. But Sango was still acting on an incoherent adrenaline rush, and she ignored him. In a blind flurry, the dog demon lunged forward to stop her, a streak of robes and white tresses. But he was too late, barely managing to grab her at the same moment her fist closed on the falling Shikon no Tama.

And then they vanished. Just like that. A flash of light and Sango and Sesshoumaru were gone.

"Ah!" the monk came to a skidding halt beside Kouga, gawking. "The Shikon no Tama… It…it absorbed them!"

"What?" Kouga asked, clearly not liking the odds now that both Sesshoumaru and Sango were added to their list of casualties. It essentially left he, the firecat and the monk to both protect the hanyou and Kagome. And somehow stop Naraku…

"You cursed creatures!" Naraku cried out, his face contorting hideously. "You nullified it! You neutralized its power!" Wounded though he was, Naraku was still driven by an unholy force. And he still had his acolytes and his offspring at his side.

"Kikyo's spell," Miroku panted, his face strained. "…it was only half way finished. I don't know what happened, but they're gone."

"No shit!" Kouga panted, backing up as Naraku's forces closed in on them. "We're getting out of here."

"We can't leave them-"

"Are you blind? We'll die!"

"It's now or-"

"INUYASHA!" Kagome screamed, interrupting them both.

Kouga and Miroku's attention was drawn to the girl, who was rocking back and forth with the hanyou's bloodied form in her arms. She was outright sobbing. Kouga made to take a step towards her when she snapped her head up, and the look in her eyes as they locked on Naraku sent a chill down his spine.

Like Sango moments earlier, something had snapped inside of her. She stood to her feet, her fair lithe form looking as effeminate and delicate as a butterfly wing. Her hair billowed about her in animated rivulets. Something was moving inside of her. Something huge. Kouga couldn't identify it, but he was nearly knocked to his feet by its intensity - a sudden, inexplicable power that radiated off her form in tangible waves.

And he wasn't the only one taken aback by its stupefying effect. Miroku was mute with shock, as were their assailants. As a matter of fact, the fighting stopped all together as this human girl who had shown little, if _no_ power prior, suddenly walked towards Naraku with all the morbid determination of an Angel of Death.

Her irises had whited out completely, now nothing more than penetrating, glowing orbs in her skull, and her body was consumed in a luminescent flame that licked and spat at the air about her. Her face was frozen in a grimace, and her hair was living and dancing about her with an energy all of its own.

Kouga got the odd, unnerving sensation of looking at a complete stranger, and could only watch in muted awe.

"Naraku," Kagome said lowly, her lip twitching. Her voice was split in dual tones, and carried eerily across the bloodied ground, raising every hair on his arms. "You die."

She levitated into the air, and with a cry threw her arms towards the villain. A stream of searing hot energy crackled out of her palms and spewed at Naraku's abominable form.

He barely threw up a shield in time, his expression echoing everyone else's sentiments, though with a slightly more panicked edge. _Where did this come from? _Their forces collided with enough impact to rip apart mountains, and Kouga and Miroku were blown back, their bodies flipping through the air with the rest of the youkai.

A splintered tree stump finally stopped Kouga's flight, impaling itself through his abdomen with a wet sloshing sound. He gasped in agony, and would have screamed had his lungs not been punctured.

_Shit!_ His vision blurred, but he fought to focus through the mind-numbing pain on Kagome and Naraku, and saw to his horror that Naraku was not only fighting back. He was winning.

"So you have a hidden reserve of power," the dark youkai bellowed out, inebriated with the sheer force of his own strength. "Idiot girl. It is still no match for my own!"

Kagome's joints locked and her face froze in panicked fury as the dark energy of Naraku began to swallow up her beam of light, lapping at it with disturbing enthusiasm.

"K-Ka…gome…!" He mouthed, having no more strength to speak out loud. _Fight it!_ he sent silently, knowing there was nothing he could do for her, now, but hope. But Naraku was gaining ground, and he got the ominous feeling that in a couple more seconds, all would be lost.

But then something unexpected happened.

Kagura.

Naraku's offspring, the bane of Kouga's existence, fluttered by. The look of crazed, venomous determination in her face was locked not on Kouga, nor on Kagome, but on Naraku himself. With a tremendous cry, she cast the same wind at her maker that had shamed Tetsusaiga, and it slammed into Naraku's festering torso - that great, unnatural bed of worms that donned a human head, and threw it off balance.

"Now, girl!" Kagura cried at Kagome desperately. "Finish him!"

"KAGURA!" Naraku roared. "YOU DARE BETRAY ME?"

He opened his mouth to continue, but a renewed burst of energy from Kagome was flung at him almost simultaneously, and it was too much for even Naraku to handle. With a great booming scream, Naraku petered out under her onslaught, being not only torn apart piece by piece, but quite literally disintegrated. Emulsified.

To nothing.

Youkai all around them withered and died, no longer puppeteered by their organizer. A feint light escaped from the line of fire, and floated merrily over to Kagura, and the youkai threw her head back and embraced it, a triumphant, exhilarated smirk on her pretty features. Kouga got the impression that she'd just been liberated from an enslavement.

He watched as Kagome fell lightly to the ground, unconscious. Kouga let the darkness and pain start to claim him. It was over. She'd done it. Naraku was no more. In his fading vision, he saw the monk reclaim the Shikon no Tama, and slump Inuyasha's bloodied body over the firecat. Then he retrieved Kagome and hopped on behind the hanyou.

They approached Kouga, whose head had begun to loll back, and he was faintly aware of a conversation.

"You have no room for the wolf prince, monk." It was Kagura's voice. He knew it from the depths of his nightmares.

A brief silence. "But…he needs help."

"I'll return him to his people."

Pause. "Why would you do that?"

A deep, maniacal chuckle. "To defy the last order Naraku gave me."

"To kill Kouga."

"Hai," she said in a vindictive tone. "A token of my independence."

"Very well," the monk said. "Up, Kirara…" A swooshing noise followed of their departure, and Kouga hissed in agony as someone yanked his body roughly off the stump, and dropped him on a soft…_something_.

He was losing a battle with his consciousness, and could barely make out a floral-patterned dress next to him. She smelt of the elements - wind and fire. And something indisputably, undeniably feminine. Kagura braced his shoulder with her hand, and he felt the air on his face as they ascended on her feather.

"Kag…ome…" he breathed, not thrilled about being separated from his woman now that it was finally over.

"Still pining after the human girl, wolf boy?" came the mean, silken tone. "It was the _hanyou's_ demise that caused her transformation. Not yours. You can't compete with that, no matter what kind of lies you may tell yourself."

The last real thought that fluttered across his awareness before his pain was drowned in the blissful oblivion of unconsciousness, was that Kagura had a point.


	7. About d@mn time...

  


**Chapter 7 **

* * *

_Blood.  
Everywhere.  
Roaring in my ears, clouding my scent, tingeing my sight crimson…  
Soaking the youkai carnage that sizzles on the battlefield in wet, sickening clumps…  
Ugh…  
Naraku. Bastard is laughing. As though he stands a-  
Eh…? That look in his eyes. Locked on Kikyo. Now at me me, cocky and knowing. He's planning something. I don't like this.  
His gaze is shifting...to...?  
HEY! Get your eyes off of-  
SHIT! He's going for them both!_

"KAGOMEEEEE!"

Inuyasha sat bolt upright on the mattress, his heart pounding deafeningly in his ears. The muscles in his back immediately knotted up and he hissed at the pain of it. Confusion swamped his senses as his vision adjusted to a different setting. His nose twitched. The stench of death was gone, replaced by the scent of Kaede's hut. And instead of a battlefield, he was surrounded by bamboo walls, thatched roof, and…

"Inuyasha!" Kagome collapsed against his chest, and he grunted with the impact. "Oi. I was so worried," she choked.

He reflexively circled his arms around her as his mind struggled to catch up, clouded with the hallucinations that lingered somewhere between slumber and consciousness. He noticed her soft, weepy sniffling, and panicked. "Kagome," he breathed in her hair, dread filling him. "Are you hurt? Did Naraku…?"

She pulled her face back to look up at him, her eyes huge and shimmering. "N-no. You saved me…" she said before turning away in… Inuyashsa frowned.

_Shame_? She sat back at the side of the mattress, averting her eyes.

His blood was still racing through his veins from his last memory, and her strange behavior just added to his nervous apprehension. "What is it? Where is everyone? What happened?"

"Ah! He's awake!" Shippo declared, pouncing into the room. Inuyasha tensed as the little ball of auburn hair leapt at him, with great big tears in his eyes. "I was afraid you weren't going to pull out of it!"

Miroku and Kaede rushed in after, both wearing exhausted smiles when they saw him. "Ah, good," Kaede-baba mused. "Good, good."

Inuyasha snarled. "Gah! Will you all stop looking at me like I died, and tell me what the hell is going on?"

Miroku opened his mouth to speak, but Kagome interrupted him by standing shakily to her feet. "You're sure you feel well, then Inuyasha?" she asked, and it dawned on him how raw her voice was…and how tired her eyes were.

"Of course I'm fine."

She nodded, her hair hanging heavily about her pretty face. A small, rueful smile tweaked her lips. He almost missed it. "Good. I'm glad." With that, she exited. No explanation. No goodbye.

"Wh…where are you going?" Inuyasha tried to stand, but Kaede stopped him.

"Let her go back to her own time, lad," she insisted. "That girl has barely slept these past three days, worrying over _you_."

His jaw dropped. "Three days? I've been unconscious for three days?" Inuyasha couldn't believe it. His body only went into a comatose sleep when it was perilously close to death. And never had it gone on for that long. He vaguely recalled Naraku's blast that he'd jumped in front of.

Hn. No wonder his back hurt.

"Relax, Inuyasha. There's a good deal to tell," Miroku said as he plunked down on the floor, folding his hands neatly in his lap.

Inuyasha blinked. _His hands… His BARE hands…_ "Miroku," he stammered, astonished. "The Kazaana… It's _gone_…"

Almost self conscious, the monk lifted his right hand and rotated it in front of his face. His eyes crinkled in a contented smile, but his lips were still tinged with sadness. "Much transpired after you took that hit for Kagome, my friend."

Inuyasha leaned back on his arms, wide-eyed, suddenly beginning to comprehend the magnitude of what he'd missed out on. He took a deep breath and licked his lips.

"Tell me…"

**

* * *

(a few minutes later)**

"K...K…" Inuyasha swallowed. "_Kagome_ destroyed Naraku?"

Miroku nodded solemnly.

The hanyou blew his breath out in a long whistle and fell back on the mattress. So Kikyo's soul was absorbed into Kagome... He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that yet. Relieved apprehension, maybe? Granted, it had saved the miko from Hell, but what if it tainted who Kagome was? He frowned at the thought.

But then there was Sango. Kaede said the Shikon no Tama had sucked she and Sesshoumaru into its dark dimension, and anyone who was trapped alone with his brother was headed for some misery. No one knew how to get them out, so the neutralized Shikon no Tama was in the safe hands of Kaede until they could figure out a way to rescue her.

Sesshoumaru could stay in there for all he cared.

And Kagura. He'd seen the look in her eyes when she said Naraku's name. Not a big surprise there, but wow. Kagome? Radiating all that power like they said?

"Unbelievable," Inuyasha muttered, staring at the ceiling in a barely concealed awe.

"Hn," came Miroku's reproachful tone. "And to think she almost didn't come because you nearly convinced her she was useless."

Inuyasha winced, his face twisting in denial, but Miroku gave him a knowing look, and he sighed defeat. "I…I had a bad feeling," he reasoned. "I was afraid she'd get hurt. Or worse…"

"You words hurt her more than Naraku's youkai-"

"Idiot! Would you have rather I knocked her unconscious?" he snapped, not too thrilled about being made to feel guilty on something he already regretted. Especially since she'd been the one to save them all.

Miroku shrugged, and Shippo yanked on his hair.

"Either way, you should apologize," the little fox demon declared.

"Feh!" He started looking around for his shirt, grimacing at the lingering pain still in his back. "Where's my-"

"That blast you took melted it right into your skin. You have no shirt," Kaede said, tossing a murky woven top at him. He caught it, and his lip curled.

"It's ugly," he complained, but started to slip it over his head anyhow. It was then that he noticed something was missing. Something major. He pawed at his neck. "Where is it?" he asked in alarm. "That cursed 'SIT' necklace?"

"Kagome removed it from you while you were unconscious," Shippo explained in his helium-pitched voice. "Said there was no need for you to wear it anymore."

"Oh…" Inuyasha frowned. "Hated that thing, anyway," he said unconvincingly, wondering why on earth it felt like a dismissal - like their bond had somehow been severed… He shrugged it off. He'd give her a day. One day to recuperate, and then he'd go see her.

* * *

**ONE WEEK LATER **

Short.

Really _really_ short. Cropped above her shoulders, and wrapped up in a ponytail that looked more like a dish scrub than a feathery plume. She'd nearly cried when those long, raven locks - that had taken _years_ to grow - had fallen to the barber's floor yesterday, and had regretted it more than once since then.

But the mirror reminded her why she'd done it. Kagome pushed her bangs off her forehead, ignoring the drawn, sad face looking back at her. _At least I look less like Kikyo, now…_ she thought. _Or at least I will when I stop looking so depressed._

Reuniting with the remainder of the miko's spirit didn't make her feel that much different inside. Granted, she was less quick to smile, and certainly more somber since she'd returned home, but that could be credited to other things…

Or people…

Agh. She missed them. Inuyasha, Kaede-baba, Shippo, Miroku... _Sango_... The demon exterminator would still be trapped in the Shikon no Tama, and Kagome didn't know what she could possibly do to rescue her friend from its mysterious realm, but she couldn't just forget about her. No matter what debilitating words the hanyou had said to her.

The thought of him, as usual, made her eyes sting.

_Inuyasha. Do you hate me so much, now?_

Kagome turned away from the mirror and went to the kitchen before the shimmering in her eyes materialized into tears. She'd just gotten the courage up to return to the feudal era, and wasn't about to intimidate herself out of it.

It had been an entire week - quite possibly the longest week of her life. A small part of Kagome thought that Inuyasha would come and get her. That he'd show up, all angry that she hadn't returned - in his own, belligerent way showing that he cared about her.

But then she'd remember his last words to her on the day of the battle. The words that seemed to make so much sense. She was a nuisance. Weak. Her work was done, there. She should go home and not come back…

_Dangit…_ Despite her resolve, a couple tears escaped and she turned her head away from her mother as she filled her pack up with food. She tried in vain to focus on something else - the label on the ramen, the stain on the table, the sound of Buyo mewling…_anything_, but her train of thought inevitably took her to the nail in the coffin. The _biggest_ reason she felt so vacuous and awful inside.

Kikyo had died because of her. It was Kagome's fault that the woman Inuyasha loved was dead. She may as well have killed the miko herself, considering the insolent manner in which she'd defied Inuyasha's order and shown up to battle anyhow. Just as he'd predicted, he wasted his time saving _her_, when he should have been jumping in front of Kikyo.

_I shouldn't have gone,_ the words sounded unbidden in her head, as they had done for the past seven days. _I shouldn't be going back, now. I have no place there. _As usual, the logic didn't acknowledge the fact that _she_ had destroyed Naraku. That small victory was sorely overshadowed by the grief of losing something…_someone_…that she may never have had in the first place.

But she owed him an apology. At least that much. She would return for her friends, and for _that_. "Bye, mom!" she put on her best cheery voice as she hopped out the door and towards the shrine, bag in hand.

"Bye honey! Have a good time!"

"Hai!"

The well was waiting for her. It had been taunting her this entire time, and as she stood at its edge, she wondered how on earth she'd had the discipline to keep from returning until now. Before her courage failed her, she hopped over the ledge, and its darkness swallowed her immediately. She was abruptly assaulted with the scent of wet grass, and old wood.

The feudal era. Dusk, no less. Kagome realized her hands were shaking, and quickly put them to work and climbed out of the well. When her feet hit the ground, she stood there, immobile, clutching her backpack in a white-knuckled fist. Why was she so nervous? He couldn't get mad at her for returning. Besides, he might not even be there-

The quick patter of feet proved otherwise. Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha, who had come to a skidding halt two feet from her. His hair fell over his shoulders with the sudden stop, and he gaped at her with an unidentifiable expression, his golden eyes wide and staring.

Kagome blinked. _He was waiting?_

Her stomach dropped out. Seeing him like this… It made her soul hurt. She wanted to embrace him so bad it winded her, and she stood there mutely, with her heart slamming the breath from her lungs…tears stinging her eyes.

It didn't help that he looked conflicted as well. So many emotions were battling for control of Inuyasha's face right then, she couldn't tell if he wanted to kiss her or scream obscenities at her. With a hissing intake of breath, he went with the latter.

"IDIOT! Where the hell have you been?" Inuyasha's glare bounced up to her hair, blinking surprise at the change. He looked like he was about to comment on it, but clearly he wasn't finished berating her yet. His face scrunched and he made a fist. "What! Do you think you're too good for us, now that it's all over?"

"I…" She fumbled clumsily over a few words, but none them made it out before he cut her off.

"Think you can just forget everyone?"

"I…" she gulped. Did he really miss her? "But those things you said-"

"A WHOLE WEEK, KAGOME! And with Sango still trapped inside the Shikon no Tama, no less!"

She took a step back, and found her voice. "I didn't think I'd be of any use-"

"Keh!" He folded his arms over his heaving chest.

She stared at him, marveling at how many mixed signals he gave off when he was mad. "If you needed me," she said cautiously, "then why didn't you come and get me?"

He scowled, and thumped a hand to his chest. "Because you took the damn necklace off! The well wouldn't let me through without it."

"What…?" No wonder he was the only one able to travel to her time. The charm had connected them somehow. And here she thought she'd been doing him a favor. "I didn't know…"

"Hn."

"I didn't," she said more earnestly.

He eyed her skeptically, and spun his back to her before his mask of projected irritation fell. She imagined by the subdued tone of his next words that he was more hurt than angry at her absence. "Either way, the baba made another one. It's back at the village, and you're not returning until you sit me with it. I won't let you get off that easily."

"I…I wanted to come back, Inuyasha," she said quietly.

"Hmph." He fidgeted, shifting weight from one foot to the other. "Well if that's the case, then it took you long enough to return."

"I…I didn't think you'd miss me."

"Feh! You talk such nonsense, sometimes." He turned to glare at her over his shoulder in offended dignity. "Well, come on, then. They'll want to see you."

"Inuyasha," she reached out for him as he started to walk off. "There's something I have to say to you."

He turned around to face her…almost too quickly. It gave her the impression that he didn't want to leave at all.

"I…" Kagome looked down as her vision blurred. She tugged absently on the hem of her shirt. "I'm sorry…about Kikyo."

He stiffened.

"She'd still be alive if I would've stayed like you said. And I'm…" _Egh…_ Why was it so hard to get the words out? "I'm _sorry_."

Brief pause. "What are you talking about?"

"You…" her voice hitched and she wiped the moisture from her eyes with the back of her hand, "you chose the weaker of us to protect, figuring she'd survive it. So if I hadn't been there…"

"Then we'd all be dead."

_Hn?_ She lifted her gaze only to see an entirely different emotion in his face. The anger was gone, replaced by an expressive mix of sympathy, admiration, and bafflement all at once. She tensed as he stepped towards her, leaving just inches between them. The sudden proximity made her gasp, and he bowed his head until their eyes were level.

"Stupid girl," he reproached softly. Sadly. "I _knew_ the blast would kill Kikyo."

_What?_ She blinked the water from her astonished eyes. "You…did?"

"Hai."

It was so far from what she'd assumed, that her mind whirled, not quite grasping what that meant. The backlash of being in a pessimistic rut the last few day still tinged her train of thought, however, and she jumped to the worst conclusion.

Had he known she would absorb Kikyo's soul when the miko passed? Thus preserving it in flesh and blood instead of clay? Kagome's heart sank. She studied his face…his heavy, lowered eyes, parted lips, lightly flushed cheeks. She recognized the look, and just like the times before, she found herself wondering whom he was seeing.

"Don't look at me like that," she plead as another set of tears rolled down her cheeks, "I'm not her!" In some pitiful attempt to prove her point, she reached up and yanked on her stumpy ponytail. "See?"

His open-mouthed protest shifted to a rueful expression when his attention was averted to her chopped hair. "Idiot," he scolded gently, brushing his fingers across the top of it. "Is that why you did it?"

Her jaw dropped to answer, but his reaction had left her stupefied. She'd expected something much more irate.

He sighed heavily and shook his head. A weary hand lifted to his brow, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. "All that studying," he mused seemingly to himself, "yet still so dumb..."

She frowned through her tears as he rested his hands on her shoulders, locking her in his stare.

"I try and tell you, and you think I'm lying. I kiss you and you think I'm pretending you're someone else." He growled frustration, and took a step back. "I don't know how else to make you understand, Kagome. Stronger, or weaker, I would have _still_ jumped in front of you when Naraku went after you both."

Kagome blinked. _Was he implying that…?_ She shook herself. No. No more jumping to conclusions. He had to say it. She squared her shoulders, her lips set in a determined line. "Why?"

He snarled, his fangs flashing in the fading sunlight. "Because I couldn't imagine my life without you in it, that's why!" he snapped, clearly aggravated that she'd forced him to say it out loud. "And even now you accuse me of seeing Kikyo in your face, when I don't! Gods, I haven't since she was brought back from the dead. The two of you are nothing alike," he spat and swiped at the air. "SHE, for one, wouldn't be doubting everything I've been trying to-Why are you still crying?"

Kagome sniffed. "You mean it…"

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "YES! Now stop insulting me and-"

Kagome fell on him, then, as she had so many times before, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face against his collar. She could feel his exhale in her hair, and after a couple seconds, he composed himself enough to hug her back.

"You understand, now?" he asked in hushed tones.

"Yes."

"Hn." His arms tightened around her and he rested his chin on her crown. "About damn time."

Her relieved laughter sounded suspiciously like a sob.

: 

As he relaxed in the encircling warmth of her arms, Inuyasha consciously tried to sort through the deluge of emotions that Kagome always made him feel. She was so fragile. Effeminate. Vulnerable… Which was odd, because the effect she had on him was just the opposite. Her nearness empowered him. Completed him. His heart seemed to catch on fire and radiate through his entire being when she was in his arms. He was _alive_ with her, he decided. She filled up that gaping void that had been plaguing him all his life, and the hanyou thought he could have stayed there, holding her forever.

Well, maybe more than just _hold_ her, he mused as the blood rushed to his face, noticing the pressure of certain curves as they rested against him. With great reluctance, he resisted the powerful urge to take the embrace one step further. He remembered the _last_ time he initiated a kiss between them, and things were going far too well right now to-

His breath caught as her lips brushed the ridge of his collarbone.

_Did she just…?_

Inuyasha froze as she kissed him again, the soft warm suction of her mouth on his neck somehow making every hair on his body raise on end.

Her fingers rested lightly against his jugular as she worked her way up, and he shuddered involuntarily, wondering how it was that such small gestures could drive him so insane. His ears spasmed, and he instinctively tilted his head to nuzzle her cheek, breathing in her breath, her skin, that heady floral aroma of her hair… She cupped his face in her hand and brought it down until their lips were touching.

The sensation was overwhelming. He nearly pulled back, afraid of losing himself. But then he realized that it was okay, now. _Besides_, he thought with a mental smirk, _she started it._

So he kissed her…

…and kissed her, and kissed her. He clutched at her, bending her against him. He removed that ridiculous elastic band from her hair so he could entwine his fingers through what was left of her silky, obsidian tresses. He smiled satisfaction when she made small appreciative noises against his mouth...

There were no subliminal red flags or insecurities. No act of frenzied desperation to prove a point. Because this time…_this_ time when Kagome had kissed him, she'd meant it. And come hell or high water, he was going to hold her to it.

* * *

**This is continued in SOLEDAD, a Sesshoumaru/Sango love story. I know it sounds incredulous (as does the Kouga/Kagura fic, VENGANZA, that comes after it!) But I'll make it work. Promise!**


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